Retrospect
by Lanelle
Summary: The Fourth isn't able to close the seal and Naruto is forced to resort to desperate measures. Timetravel/Accidental
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto

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Naruto stood in the white abyss of his mind, tear streaks still evident on his cheeks looking into his father's face for what was probably the last time during his life. It was strange considering only a few minutes ago was the first time he could remember looking at his father's face. Besides of coarse from the many pictures he'd seen over the years and the stone faces.

A look of regret and resignation passes from father to son. "Now... I have to be going... my chakra is starting to fade." The older man says as he reaches out towards the gaping seal on his son's stomach. "I'll restore the seal but this is the las..t.." Out from the spirit's hand a cool wash of normal chakra touches the tattered edges of Naruto's stomach before a spike of pain shoots through him and a sudden look of alarm passes across his father's face.

Not missing the expression Naruto looks down at the hole in his stomach. Cloudy red chakra surrounds the sides of the opening. As he watches, the edges attempt to close again but are forced back open by a wave of red and another spike of pain shoots through him.

Naruto pales suddenly and hesidently says, "Something's wrong isn't it?"

The equally pale spirit says, "He's forceably keeping it open... that should be impossible for anyone even him!"

"You can do something, right? You're an expert in seals.." Naruto says wide-eyed, now in a complete panic.

Minato looks his son in the eye and says mournfully, "I can't close it."

Panic rises up in Naruto as he grabs his hair, "If we don't do something everyone is going to die..." His eyes snap around and looks into the slightly fading face of the past hokage. "... try to think of something... we can't give up!"

Minato takes a large wobbly breath as sweat starts to trickle down the side of his face. For a slight moment Naruto can see through him. The spirit gives him a ghost of a smile and says "I wasn't going to. Let me look at it again..." He closes his eyes and holds out both hands facing the opening in Naruto's stomach, concentrating chakra towards it.

After a moment the spirit opens his eyes with a spark of hope. "I see that's why it won't close." Seeing the puzzled expression on his son's face he trys to explain. "It's not closing because Kyuubi's chakra is right now formed like ropes that are anchoring him into the physical body he created outside of you. The core of him however.. the part that is powering him, is still inside of you... so if those ropes were somehow cut there would be nothing tying his chakra outside your body and like rubber bands the chakra would snap back behind the seal."

Naruto tilts his head to the side with a thoughtful look on his face. "Okay I understand that, umm sort of. But how is knowing that going to help? I'm stuck in here I can't cut chakra strings inside my mind."

"The only way I can see that the chakra strings are going to be severed is to do a teleportation ninjutsu to move your body outside of the Kyuubi projected body." Minato takes another large breath and grinds his teeth as he uses shear force of will to keep himself from fading. "You'll have to do the jutsu in here however. You won't be able to wake up till kyuubi is back behind his seal. I'll be honest I don't know how doing the jutsu in here is going to effect you.."

Naruto looks up into his father's face with a worried frown. "What might happen? Will what's happening become worse?"

"I won't lie to you. There's a major possibility that you'll teleport only your soul. If that happens you'll die but in that case you'll take Kyuubi with you. Then at least one threat will be gone. The key to whether this works or not is if a space/time jutsu can work in reverse." Seeing his son's confused face he trys to explain. "The body and soul are heavily connected. If you do a teleportation jutsu on the body the soul goes along with the body. I'm hoping that if you do it the other way with the soul that the body will go with the soul."

Realizing the odds Naruto says grimly, "This is our only option isn't it?"

A outright ill look crosses the deceased Hokage's face. "Yes, I'm sorry Naruto. Jiraiya-sensei taught you a teleportion ninjutsu along with the other toad jutsu's, correct?" The boy nods. "Then I"ll leave it up too you... good luck and take care, son..." With those parting words Naruto's father stops struggling and allowed himself to fade.

With his eyes tightly closed Naruto tilts his head back and takes a long fortifying breath. Confusion, Fear and a overwhelming sense of grief assaults him. Steeling his resolve he lowers his head and stares straight into the white abyss and does a short series of well practiced hand-signs.

With a burst of chakra, the endless white fades and a haze of red obscures his vision. The Flames... all he could comprehend as bile rose and locked in his throat, was that his body was being consumed by flames. After what felt like hours but he knew was only a couple moments the wave of red encompassing him began to fade as well and his surroundings suddenly come into focus.

He could hear waves and smell the sea and threw his blurred vision he saw what seemed to be shards of glass, falling down onto a rail enclosed paved road and right infront of him was a crouched child with blond hair covered in familiar orange ready to charge a masked figure.

Before he could fully comprehend where he was, what he was on and why everything looked so familiar the world suddenly tilts on Naruto and everything goes black.

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For those who don't know, this is a rewrite. I'm rewriting because I would have had to write out large portions of the Canon storyline without change. Anyways this story's origional purpose was for me to experiment with timetravels. That still applys ... you can consider all updates a miracle. Just to warn you I'm not really serious about this fic... (for some reason spellcheck isn't working and I'm too lazy to hunt for another program to fix this so just ignore any errors you find please.)


	2. Familiar Stranger

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Kakashi watched Naruto with understanding as two long winding paths of tears flows down the young ninja's face. It was never easy to come to the understanding that, yes your enemy wasn't always just a bad guy. That they had dreams. They felt pain.. sorrow.. love. That sometimes even they were the good guy and you were in the wrong.

He knew that his students understood logically that enemies were human beings but it was entirely different to see the rawness of the opposition's humanity. It was even more difficult when they happen to die. He was grateful that his students were safe. None of them had to actually deal the death blow. And he was also grateful that at least in this situation, they were very much morally in the right.

A startled gasp that he recognized as Sakura's suddenly jolts Kakashi out of his thoughts.

He whips around towards her and pulls out a kunai. He quickly follows her line of sight and sees a completely blood covered figure among the feet of the villagers. Haku and Zabuza were layed behind him now that he's turned towards the villagers. None of the thugs made it beyond the point where the missing nin's lay, Kakashi honestly didn't have any idea who this figure could be.

"Everyone MOVE away from him!" Kakashi orders without hesitation.

Many move right away, a couple look around first to see what he was talking about only then noticing the body at there feet. They quickly scramble away as soon as they spot the prone figure.

Kakashi watches the figure closely as the villagers move away. The blood caked form's chest moves slightly telling Kakashi that impossible as it seems with that level of blood loss that yes the figure is still alive.

His eyes flash ahead then through the edge of his vision towards his students and is satisfied that each one had copied him and had already moved into a 'ready' stance with kunai drawn.

"Guard the villagers, I'm going in."

As if practiced thousands of times Kakashi leaps forward toes the body sharply and leaps backwards a safe distance before even the body is completely turned over.

A shocked gasp sounds from the Jonin's right which he recognized as belonging to Naruto. The tone of the gasp was very telling to Kakashi but considering what he was seeing he had to confirm it. The figure looked exactly like Naruto. Looking alittle closer Kakashi reassessed his opinion... he look almost like Naruto. The figure on the ground was at least two years older and had on a official looking smock that he couldn't tell the color of because of all the blood.

"This isn't one of your clones is it Naruto?" Kakashi knew he hasn't had much experience dealing with Naruto's pranks but as tasteless as a prank right now seemed, the ill logic of this figure screamed that something wasn't adding up. A prank makes the most sense.

"NO way Sensei! I wouldn't do that after... Not after..." Naruto gestures towards the bodies of Haku and Zabuza behind them.

Kakashi nods he agrees, Naruto even as insensitive as he could be, wouldn't do something like create a joke like this. Kakashi slowly exposes his recently covered red eye.

The familiar feeling of energy shifting and draining towards his eye greets Kakashi "_Not a Henge and not a clone..." _Kakashi's red eye swirls sickeningly as he assesses the situation "_If he isn't then..." _He quickly adjusts his stance ready to pivot and strike out if necessary as he settles his red gaze on the younger looking Naruto.

The younger notices the change in his teacher's gaze and subconsciously realizes his intent. "Ka... Kakashi - Sensei?"

"_Both are real? Okay keep calm. Think this through alittle"_ The jonin thinks as the red eye swirls a bit faster. _"Naruto drew on the Kyuubi's chakra... Did he try to make a clone with it? If he did the clone could be dangerous... Nothing else fits... something to do with Kyuubi's chakra is the only thing that would make sense in a situation where the Sharingun is fooled._"

Finally coming to a decision he glances in the direction of the villagers. "Tazuna, I usually wouldn't do this but we're going to have to end the mission before the bridge is entirely complete."

The bridge builder nods "Gato is gone. We won't have any problems with hired ninjas and the thugs have no reason to prevent the bridge from being completed." He gestures towards the bloody Naruto. "Besides it seems you have something alittle more important."

Kakashi nods but doesn't take his eyes off the older Naruto. "I need everyone to get off the bridge, except you Naruto."

He glances over at Sasuke and Sakura. "I need you two to escort the villagers the rest of the way off the bridge then retrieve all four of our traveling bags from Tazuna's. I don't want you two to delay any more then you need too. We have to get back to the village as fast as we can."

As the villagers gather the few weapons they brought and begin to shuffle away Sakura looks curiously at the bloodied figure. "Isn't that just one of Naruto's clone's sensei? It can't be that dangerous can it?" she asks as she readies herself to follow the last stragglers.

"I don't remember seeing him during the fight." Sasuke reluctantly adds.

Kakashi gives her a serious look. "No it's not a clone. At least according to my eye it isn't. That's exactly why we have to hurry."

Tazuna pauses a moment and gestures towards the two missing nin's. "What about those two Sensei?"

"Come back in a few hours we should be gone by then. I'm sorry but we have to leave you with the burial arrangements."

The old bridge builder nods. "Okay Sensai. If we don't see each other again thank you for helping us." Kakashi nods as Tazuna, the last of the villagers and his two students leave.

Kakashi and the two Naruto's stay in place as they watch the last villagers disappear in the distance. The younger somehow knew that his sensei wanted him to stay a certain distance away till he understood the situation.

Finally satisfied that the villagers were a safe enough distance away from the two he turns towards the younger of the two. "Naruto did you summon shadow clones during your fight?"

Naruto's bottom lip sticks out as he gives his sensei a put upon look. "Kakashi-sensei, I told you. I didn't make him! All my clones popped during my fight."

Kakashi nods "I believe you Naruto. Tell me did you make the clones before or after you drew on the red chakra?"

Naruto scratches the back of his head, "Errr... before.. I think.." a slight surprised look suddenly crosses his features. "Wait how did you know about the red chakra!"

"Never mind that. I want you to try and dispel him." Seeing the beginning of a pout and feeling the beginning of a headache for himself, Kakashi quickly cuts Naruto off before he can start. "I know you didn't make him. I think the red chakra might have done it on it's own."

Naruto squints and tilts his head to the side looking at his sensai for nearly a full minute, Long enough for Kakashi to wonder what the kid could be thinking of. Opening his mouth to ask he's suddenly interrupted by a simple. "Sure, Sensei!"

Kakashi watches Naruto with his Sharingun, noting each progressive step in exact detail: Hand-sign, chakra expelled in the direction of the clone, expelled chakra attempting to draw back the clone's chakra. Everything went like it would normally have done except when it came to drawing back the chakra. Normally the chakra would have taken the clone's chakra or would have hit the non-clone with no effect but much to Kakashi's shock the chakra hit the doppelganger and joins it as if he was the one expelling the clone.

Thinking quickly Kakashi walks over and brings his knuckles down onto the younger Naruto's head.

"Oww... I didn't lie! Why you hit me Sensei?"

Kakashi rubs the back of his own head. "Sorry about that Naruto I had to make sure." He turns back towards the older looking Naruto. "I want you to stay back here. Something is seriously off about this situation. He could be extremely dangerous."

The jonin slowly approaches the body all the time keeping a close eye on this hands and feet. As soon as the older shinobi is in range the older Naruto's hands and feet were secured before the younger could even blink. Kakashi proceeded in removing weapons from the unconscious shinobi. Kakashi quickly finishes. "Naruto you can come over now." Kakashi motions towards the discarded weapon pouches and the assorted backup weapons he found. "Secure those."

"Got it , Sensei." The younger salutes enthusiastically and sits down next to the pile and begins to sort the bits and pieces of metal.

That done Kakashi proceeds to look for the source of all the blood. Much to his surprise the only injury he could find under all the blood was a gash in the palm of the right hand. Looking closely Kakashi spots what seems to be a stone of some sort embedded into the cut. Kakashi deciding to get a better look pulls out a Kunai and unflinchingly starts to dig the thing out.

"So What's wrong with 'fake-me' Sensei?" Naruto says as he looks over from the pile of weapons.

"He's suffering from a bad case of exhaustion and there is a bad gash in the middle of this right palm." he pauses for a moment and hesitantly adds. "I can't detect a technique."

"You can't figure out how he looks like me?" Naruto stops and thinks about that for a moment. "Does that make him a super strong Ninja sensei?"

Kakashi gives a exaggerated sigh already figuring out what was coming. "If it's a technique then yes he's a ninja to watch out for."

"YATTA! A super strong ninja wants to be like me!" Naruto throws his arms into the air while still sitting infront of the pile of weapons. He grins widely basking in what he clearly considers some sort of victory then calms himself crosses his arms and nods in a sage like way. "Of coarse who wouldn't want to be. I'm going to be the Hokage someday. He must be really good he can see my potential."

Kakashi places his hand over his headband and slowly lowers it over his red eye as he sighs at this most unusual student. "You still have a long way till you're at that level Naruto. Try to look underneath alittle more." Naruto deflates a bit but Kakashi motions towards the shinobi's pouches in order to distract him a bit. "What did you find other then weapons?"

"Oh yeah!" Naruto suddenly regains his entusiasm. "I found four books!"

Kakashi holds out his hand and Naruto happily hands them to his sensei.

The one on top was a slightly used bingo book not abnormal for a shinobi to have. As a matter of fact vital for those likely to engage enemy shinobi. This book was expected.

Kakashi places it to the side to later go over and analyze. It might have some new information for his own bingo book.

The second down was another bingo book but this one when compared to the other was like night and day. It wasn't anywhere near as new. By the scuffed up cover Kakashi had to guess that it was at least 20 years old if not longer. He could tell that hundreds of entries had been added over the years. But what really chilled him were the tiny little papers sticking slightly out of the book. Almost everyone of them was a dark almost blackish red.

Not saying a word and not even glancing at the other books Kakashi hands them back to Naruto and pulls out a syringe and a small medicine vial.

"Err, Sensei?"

Filling the syringe Kakashi looks over at Naruto sees his baffled expression, "What do you know about bingo books Naruto?"

Naruto squints his eyes and tilts his head to the side and answers. "When you get really strong people put stuff they know about you in them."

Kakashi nods, "Essentially yes, but there is alot more to them. For one Bingo books are almost always in code. Neither of those are. To have a bingo book not in code you either have one that has only common knowledge, it's planted information that you want passed to another village, or your a missing Nin who doesn't care about others knowing the secrets of any of the villages." he sighs deeply. "Another thing about bingo books are the age and the amount added to the book. The second bingo book is extremely old but if you look closely there are recent additions in the back. You can tell by the age of the paper. That means it belongs to a very old shinobi and considering how much was in the book one that specialized in gathering information. If the doppelgangers age is accurate there is no way he is the original owner."

Kakashi inclines his head towards the copy and turns him onto his stomach. He inserts the needle into the medicine bottle and carefully measures out a dosage of the liquid.

"There are two more things you need to be aware of when it comes to that bingo book specifically. There is a rule among shinobi. Once a captured bingo book is copied and analyzed by the home village the original is given back to the person most responsible for the defeat of that shinobi. It's an old rule dating back before even the hidden villages. Basically the mind set is the clan responsible for uncovering the information has the most right to it and should benefit the most from the information. If this rule wasn't in place especially in the time before the villages there would have been constant inter fighting when one clan allied with others. There are many shinobi's that kill just to collect them as trophies of sorts. That practice of collecting them, though not illegal, is heavily frowned upon in Konoha. In our village most just memorize or copy the information and turn it over to the village archives."

Naruto gives the older shinobi an annoyed look, "So this copy cat beat up some old guy. That's not cool sensei. Does that mean he's weak?"

Kakashi shakes his head not looking up. "No Naruto, you were right earlier. Did you notice all those red slips tucked inside the book? There were literally hundreds of them."

Naruto looks down at the book in his hand. "Yeah what about them sensei?"

Kakashi carefully takes the syringe and stabs it into the doppleganger's bisep. "Bounty recipes. A large majority of them are recent. Not only that but look at how much the bounty hunter received for a few of those bounties."

Kakashi eye smiles at the bugged eye look on Naruto's face as he looks at the one poking out of the top of the book. Naruto suddenly sits up straight and looks at his copy with renewed respect. "Ano, he defeated a really strong bounty hunter? What are we going to do with him sensei?"

Seeing his other students hurrying from a short distance away kakashi slings the older Naruto onto his shoulder, "I'm not sure if he did or not Naruto. It's what I would normally believe if he didn't look exactly like you. We need to bring him back to the village and let the Hokage decide what to do with him. The drug I gave him should keep him paralyzed temporarily."

"We're back! Tazuna and the others asked us to pass on there thanks once again." Sakura says as her and Sasuke comes up parallel to Naruto and Kakashi.

Kakashi nods. "Alright gather up the weapons and lets move out."

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Author's Note: I think I totally overdid Kakashi talking. He's usually not that wordy. Bah if he's out of character oh well... my story. And ten cheers for ballsy but sucky Naruto. I don't know why everyone hates him at this point. He's entertaining.


	3. Naruto's Nap

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**_.

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"... naruto... it's katsuyu.."

The wind rustled in his hair it's the first thing that he became aware of.

"... I know your waking ..."

His limbs were like lead, tied down and immovable.

"... you've been drugged, try to fight through it and listen ..."

His stomach hurt. Why did it hurt?

"... something is seriously wrong..."

He opened his eyes and sees a weapon pouch.

"... I can't sense the other parts of myself..."

It was rather blurry but after a moment he noticed he was seeing it upside down.

"... reverse summoning isn't working..."

He was on someone's shoulder. Did he get hurt somehow? Is that why he was being carried?

"... I don't have enough chakra right now to neutralize the drug..."

It didn't matter. Someone was obviously trying there best to get him some help. But something felt off about that thought.

"... I don't know if this is an illusion or not... I can't dispel it... "

There was something cold and wet clinging to his neck.

"... but last time I checked Kakashi wasn't alive ..."

The weird thing on his neck was whispering something..

"... you've been captured by him... whoever he is..."

He was too tired to concentrate on the words. They were too soft.

"... just hold on naruto... as soon as I rest and rebuild my chakra I'll try to filter out the drug they've injected you with so you can escape..."

The person helping him suddenly stops. Up till now he hadn't noticed but the person carrying him had a hand directly placed on a vein behind one of his knees. Wasn't that the place where you monitored a person's heartbeat when you're carrying them? Naruto vaguely remembered Iruka-sensei mentioning something like that in one of those boring lectures he always gave. He wasn't sure though... His thoughts were clearing up but he still was so tired.

Katsuyu suddenly stiffens. Did the fake Kakashi hear him?

Naruto suddenly found himself placed onto the ground. His head felt so heavy. What was wrong with him?

Katsuyu swiftly moves deeper into Naruto's collar.

The person who had been carrying him suddenly speaks. "Sakura, hand me the medical kit. He's waking up."

The small slug sighs in relief at not being heard and decides it couldn't do anymore in it's current condition. Slowly it makes it way to a certain fold in Naruto's coat. It was the perfect spot to get a little rest without the shifts in movement likely to dislodge him.

Naruto gave a mental smile of relief, he wasn't sure if it reached his face or not. He listened to the person who had been carrying him as closely as possible but still only a few words registered in his mind, Sakura and medical kit. There wasn't anything he could do if he was injured but he had complete faith that Sakura could help him with whatever was wrong. A slight pain on the bicep of his arm reached his muddled mind and he went happily back to sleep.

* * *

Kakashi was at the end of his strength. He had been holding off the inevitable for the last two days. He was going to have to sleep and leave his students to guard the prisoner. Normally this wouldn't be much of a issue but if the older looking Naruto was anywhere near the level the hints leaned towards it would be a risky gamble.

After the bridge he thought it through alittle and surmised that it would be best to just seal away the doppelgangers belongings. Just what was in the bounty hunter's bingo book would be worth a fortune to a shinobi village. Not to mention there was something about the broken stone he had pried out of the copy's hand. Something in him was nagging at him that he had seen it before. Maybe not as it was but he had seen it. He knew enough about village security to know that there might be something in the belongings that might warrant more discretion then normal, so without looking at the rest of the books or weapons he sealed them away and hid the scroll on himself.

He was almost tempted to take another soldier pill to keep watch over the copy but he knew that if a fight cropped up he would collapse. There was also Sasuke to consider. As far as he could tell the kid been barely keeping up with the others. He was hiding it well but he was suffering from being placed in a near death state much like Zabaza had. It all came down to that both of them badly needed the rest in order to get home safely.

Kakashi signals the following genin and leaps down onto the forest floor. He lays the prisoner onto a cleared area of the Forest floor where he couldn't spot any branches that could possibly aid the doppelganger. Once satisfied he turns to his students. "It's time to take a break. Sakura, Naruto you two will be on guard duty tonight. You two have had plenty of rest. You'll be allowed to get a couple of hours before sunrise. Sasuke you still need to recover."

Sasuke opens his mouth to protest but Kakashi breaks him off before he could get started. "I know you've been hiding how tired you are but even Zabaza had to rest after that."

"Hnnn" The boy looked fairly irritated at this, well more then normal in any event.

Kakashi bites his thumb, does a series of hand seals, lays his hand down onto the ground and mutters, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" a puff of smoke appears and a small wrinkly pug emerges.

"Hey a puppy!"

Kakashi fights the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes. "Because of how serious this situation is Pakkun is encharge while we rest. You two are to listen to him and if there is an emergency you're to wake me up immediately." He gives a extra long look in the direction of Naruto.

Pakkun looks around in confusion and tilts his head to the side. "What do ya need Kakashi?"

"It talks!" Sakura says in shock while Sasuke's eyes bug out slightly in surprise.

Naruto crouches down and stares into the eyes of the little dog. After a brief staring contest he looks over at his sensei with a pout firmly on his face. "You want us to take orders from a talking dog?"

"Yes, you're going to take orders from Pakkun. He has experience watching prisoners and is able to evade attacks if necessary." Kakashi looks down at his summon. "We've captured what could be a very dangerous shinobi. I need you to keep an eye on him while I rest. These two are under your command. If he so much as twitches wrong, wake me up. Do not get within range of him without me."

"Understood" not hesitating the small dog circles the captive memorizing the position he was laying and his scent. "... smells like Toads and ramen..." the little dog grumbles as he starts to patrol.

* * *

"...naruto.."

The little nagging voice was back and bugging him again.

"... wake up naruto..."

He could still hear the crickets that normally came out after dusk. Why did he have to get up in the middle of the night? He sent a mental equivalent of 'Why?' towards where the voice usually comes from. He waits a moment and gets a 'HUh?" back. Thinking it was his imagination Naruto turns back towards dozing off again.

The voice realizing exactly what Naruto was up to and knowing how little the window between now and his next injection was, decides that there is no other choice and quickly resorts to plan 'B'.

A yelp suddenly silences the crickets as Naruto opens his eyes wide and turns his head trying to see what just bit him on the neck. Realizing his neck just wouldn't bend that way he goes to swat at whatever it is but is brought up short when he realizes that his hands were bound behind him.

"... finally you're awake... " A small white slug pops up out of the side of his collar. "We're in a really bad situation.." They were in the middle of a group of trees. A couple feet away some burning coals were lighting up the area. They had obviously been part of a camp fire at some point. Stretching out his senses he could feel a couple of very obvious chakra signatures just out of hearing range.

" Katsuyu..." He twists one of his hands around onto his wrists feeling the material out. Dull ninja wire.. to thin to untie and to thick to slice through his wrists... well at least without alot of time and effort. Not like he was going to though. Lowering his voice he turns towards the slug "I've been captured haven't I"

".. yes I don't know who they are though.." There was a distinct note of nervousness in the summon's voice. "I don't have time to explain everything I've discovered... they had a summon guarding you. He was alerted by your yelp earlier he's getting his summoner." The small slug pauses a moment almost like he didn't want to divulge the next bit of information. "There's four of them. Standard training level team, Jonin sensai with three Genin. I think we might be under a genjutsu..."

"Why do you..." Naruto stops talking and the small summon ducks out of sight as a growl emerges from the surrounding darkness followed by a masked figure.

The figure was wearing standard Jonin attire, a mask covering his lower face, Naruto could almost see the dark being pierced by a mismatched gaze. Suddenly what he was seeing in the dim light clicked"... Kakashi-sensei?.." Naruto looks down towards the growling and spots the familiar little pug with a bandanna. "Pakkun?..."

" Hello... Naruto is it?" There was a note in Kakashi's voice that Naruto had never heard spoken before. At least not in his direction. The fine hairs on the back of his neck stood up in alarm.

"Umm... yeah." Naruto would have scratched the back of his head in confusion if his hands were free. "Kakashi-sensei what's goi..ng..." he stops abruptly and spots the person approaching behind the one eyed jonin.

"Here it is Kakashi-sensei." a young looking Sakura looks over at the older Naruto cautiously as she holds out a medical kit towards her teacher.

Naruto stares at Sakura's distinctively younger features in shock. After a couple of moments of gapping at the young genin he remembers what Katsuyu said. Genjutsu. He quickly closes his eyes concentrates on freezing his chakra and with a burst of chakra trys to disrupt it's flow. "Kai!" He opens his eyes to see everything unchanged and gives the image of his younger teammate a scathing glare.

Sakure whose never seen such a expression directed at her by her fun loving teammate freezes in alarm.

"It's alright." Kakashi says trying to reassure her as he takes the medical kit from his student and turns towards the older looking Naruto who was looking around with narrowed eyes. "What's going on is you're being brought back to the village. I would suggest not giving us any trouble. This will go alot more easily for you if you don't struggle."

The older Naruto lets out a deep breath, nods and lays back passively. After many experiences subduing prisoners Kakashi knew alot about spotting signs of resistance. They either struggled to get the bonds off or layed still with muscles tense ready to spring. The older looking Naruto showed neither. He layed completely still almost bonelessly as if he didn't care. He had met a few of those in his life. People who gave up the fight when they knew there was no chance. If nothing else confirmed that this wasn't Naruto, him giving up did in Kakashi's eyes. Feeling a bit of relief but still keeping the corner of his eye on the doppelganger, Kakashi goes about filling another syringe. His relief is short lived however when the metal twang of the wire breaking reaches his ears. He turns to look completely in the direction of the doppelganger and his gaze meets a set of red rimmed amphibian eyes.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_ For those who don't know from chapter 2 on is nothing but newly written material. I just sort of wrote myself in a corner early in the previous copy of this story. I really really didn't want to rewrite word for word the entire wave arc. (I personally hate when people get too close to the origional storyline... I sure as hell wasn't going to do it.) Would have seriously sucked. So I adjusted abit of the first chapter, scraped everything else, and then started over from chapter 2 on.

Also before anyone asks. NO ROMANCE! I'm not pairing anyone with anyone else so don't ask.


	4. Diplomacy

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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The sudden metal twang of the wire breaking echoed through the clearing like a explosion. Kakashi whips his head up and for a tension filled second his mismatched eyes gaze into the changed eyes of his prisoner. His eyes flicker down to the wrists and ankles of the older looking Naruto in shock. He almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. It took alot of outright strength to break ninja wire even with the use of fingers. His prisoner broke the wire from mearly moving his wrists and ankles apart. It took something along the lines of Tsunade's strength to break wire like that and even Tsunade would suffer some serious cuts. The older looking Naruto's wrists only had a couple scratches.

After a split second to register those thoughts the masked ninja leaps into action. He thrusts his fist towards the blond captive's head, in an attempt to knock him out quickly. Not hesitating either Naruto slings himself side over side into a roll moving across the cold decaying leaves just in time to feel sand spray across his neck from Kakashi's fist connecting with the ground instead of his head. He continues to roll and using an almost acrobatic twist of his spine and legs skids upright onto his feet.

A familiar "shhiiiieh' noise meets Naruto's ears, just as he manages to gain his balance. His head moves so fast upwards it causes his neck to ache slightly and his eyes just barely catch the glint of light off of the razor sharp metal of a Kunai. Ingrained reflexes take over and his hand wraps around the wrist holding it. Not giving him time to think Kakashi draws his other fist back faster then any eye short of a Sharingan could follow and thrusts forward only to find it also captured by his target.

Naruto tightens his hold onto his attacker and takes a second to really look at him. Gray hair, masked face, mismatched eyes and that undeniable presence that screams Kakashi. As far as he knew it was impossible to imitate someone to the degree to fool someone with molded sage chakra in their system. Pa toad told him it was near impossible for genjutsu to work also. For all accounts and purposes this was Kakashi. He glances over at Sakura hiding behind a tree and senses the same. The girl was actually Sakura. Not only that but he felt a unrefined quality to her chakra almost like she was actually younger, more inexperienced.

Suddenly a foot flies up towards Naruto's face and he instinctively lets go of the copy ninja to block the blow but in the process completely forgets that with Sage chakra it would have done very little damage to him. Naruto silently curses himself as Kakashi takes advantage of his mistake and leaps back into a defensive position right infront of his student.

"That's a new technique for you isn't it, Naruto?" Again there was a note in Kakashi's voice almost like he was mocking him with his own name. Not answering Naruto stares at the older Kakashi trying to find a flaw in this possible impostor, stance, attitude.. anything, wondering just how he was going to deal with him. If there was any chance of this actually being Kakashi... "Anyways, You're coming back with us."

"What is this..." Naruto asks softly with an almost hidden note of hurt in his voice.

"That's what we're going to find out.." Kakashi says in a determine tone, as his hands suddenly move in a blur. He gives the older Naruto a grim look as he says, "Doryuusou no Jutsu"

A slight flare of chakra was the only warning Naruto receives before stone spikes erupt on either side of him, aiming towards the joints in his legs. His instincts kick in and he leaps back wards only to have the spikes follow him. Annoyed Naruto puts both arms infront of himself in a blocking position and just as the spikes reach him, he swings both arms downwards like hammers and shatters the spikes.

Kakashi was on him immediately. Before Naruto could even blink his knees collapsed as he found his legs being taken out from under him with a sweep of the copy nin's leg. He quickly regains his equilibrium and flips head over heals and back onto his feet. Out of nowhere something wet and painful clamps onto Naruto's ankle digging into the leather of his shoe. Naruto glaces down to see Pakkun doing his best to dig his teeth into him. A puzzled expression encompasses his face. Why had Kakashi backed him towards Pakkun's position? Inspite of the little K-9's efforts there wasn't going to be any lasting damage from the dogs little teeth. Even without his unnatural healing this wouldn't have caused any damage. Naruto picks Pakkun up by the scruff of his neck, ignoring the little dogs snarls, takes two fingers and taps the middle of the little dog's forehead, knocking him out and then tosses him aside onto a pile of leaves. He straightens up and looks at Kakashi. His eyes widen in sudden comprehension.

He scratches the back of his head, sighs heavily and gives Kakashi a sheepish lopsided resigned smile. "Guess I'm going to have to take you seriously Kakashi - sensei."

* * *

Naruto looked down at the little orange book with a feeling of apprehension. There was just something about the little worned down novel that creeped him out. It was almost taunting him. 'Come and pick me up.. it's part of your job to pack me in your sensei's things...' He reaches down to pick it up but at the last second a bit of light from the camp fire flickers and throws a shadow over it giving it a almost sinister air. 'HAHA! Don't tell me you haven't seen how your sensei's giggles every time he reads me... Don't worry I'm just a innocent little orange book... Orange is awesome don't yooou thhhink?'

Naruto turns away and shudders as he imagines the almost snake like quality of the book's taunts. There was just something wrong about it being that shade of orange. It was like seeing a little girl with a murderous grin or a big burly ninja wearing bright bubblegum pink. It was just wrong in some small and elemental way.

It was, in his opinion, tainting the best color in the whole world.

"Hurry up, Dope." Sasuke calls in an annoyed voice. He could hear the bastard unzipping his bag and securing his own sleeping bag.

The blond snarls over his shoulder in the direction of this teammate and snaps back. "Teme!" He didn't have to deal with sensei's creepy book. All he had to do is pack is own stuff.

Grimacing once again Naruto turns towards the creepy orange thing before him and decides to get on with it. He didn't want Sasuke to come over here and realize what the problem was. He'll never hear the end of it. Instead of picking up the offending piece of literature he takes the edge of his shoe and quickly toes it into his sensai's sleeping bag and starts to roll the cloth up so he doesn't have to touch it. Hopefully Kakashi-sensei wouldn't notice the amount of sand he managed to pack along with it.

Finally done Naruto puts on and shifts Kakashi's bag so it was more centered on his back while shifting his own pack so it's centered over his chest. He looks over towards Sasuke as he did the same for Sakura's and his own backpack.

Only a few minutes earlier Kakashi- sensai ordered them to pack up. They actually were making good time even with Naruto's literary phobia. At the first sign of the prisoner waking Pakkun, Kakashi's summon, ordered Sakura and him to get sensei. Upon waking Kakashi didn't waste any time and proceeded to barked out a quick series of orders for them to do as fast as they could. Naruto was to pack his sensei's and his own things and Sasuke to pack up his bag and Sakura's (The first and only time Naruto had to pack something of Sakura's he accidentally stained one of her outfits and his teammate forbid him to ever touch any of her things again.) Sakura was to grab the main medical kit and follow Sensei so his hands could remain free.

Sensei didn't say as much but the chores added up to one thing. They were breaking camp.

They didn't know how serious the situation was but sensei distinctly mentioned the night before that the prisoner wouldn't be at risk of waking till noon the next day. But considering how strong the impostor could be he made him and Sakura guard him even though they were ready to catch some sleep also.

Thinking of the prisoner brought up the issue of the Prisoner's appearance. Naruto wasn't sure how to feel about someone impersonating him. On one hand, it felt like someone was acknowledging him. That they saw true worth in him. Which only a handful of people do. On the other hand, it felt like someone was trying to steal what little recognition he has been working so hard for.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, They start towards where the prisoner was kept and by unspoken agreement sprint towards the small clearing.

They near the clearing expecting to see Kakashi with the prisoner slung over his shoulder only to see Sakura standing stiffly looking towards the clear space with a Kunai out.

Wordlessly taking their cue from Sakura's example they drop the backpacks and reach for there own Kunai and approach steadily towards the edge of what they assumed was a battlefield. The pink haired Kunoichi glaces back at them wide-eyed and fearful, clearly afraid that they might be someone else. Seeing who it is she quickly nods ahead where they knew the prisoner had last been tied.

Before he can get into sight range of the clearing Naruto sees a flash of orange and then soil erupt infront of Sakura as she screams. Clone memories of a unknown fight flood his mind and he falls to one knee...

* * *

Kakashi stared at the impostor in apprehension. He didn't know if he was a match for him or not. With a shinobi like Zabaza he knew what to expect. He knew that if he kept a level head and thought enough ahead he had a very very good chance of overcoming someone at that level of skill.

With the person infront of him, he wasn't so sure. Yes, he managed to knock him off balance temporarily with his sudden attacks but something was bothering him about the fight so far. Something was off. Reviewing it in his mind, he was once again struck by the oddity of the shinobi's wrists. They should have been far more damaged from the wire. Whatever technique he was using to toughen his skin was extremely high level. Suddenly as his thoughts turn towards the movements of the fight, what was odd about it struck Kakashi like a bolt of lightning.

During the entire fight thus far, the young shinobi across from him hadn't performed a single offensive move.

A chill rushed down Kakashi's spine as he again notes the flaws in the imposter's stance.

After years of spars and challenges from Gai he'd came to expect his slightly weaker punches to be reflected or stopped by other ninjas on occasion. But a flicker of realization came to him at that moment. Because of his frequent sparing with someone like Gai he didn't immediately realize that the person across from him shouldn't have been able to block his strikes. An average taijutsu user should have never been able to counter his punches.

He looks very closely at the stance of the shinobi infront of him. Was he by any chance faking the less then perfect stance? One second a fist would have been unblocked but the next it was caught.

It was speed..

A chill washes down his spine as he comes to his conclusion. It explained the less then perfect stance. He didn't need to be the best at taijutsu to block if he could move that fast. To Kakashi it solidifies his next course of action. There was entirely too many unanswered questions connected to this shinobi. If his offensive abilities were even half as good as that defensive technique he's been using, then him and his team are entirely out of their depth.

Forget about recapturing him. He needed to keep focuse so they wouldn't die. He needed to keep this Older Naruto occupied while his team gathers. Hopefully he can manage to knock him out or at least hold him off till he can collect his genin and get the hell out of here.

Coming back to the present, sweat running down his back Kakashi tenses as the older Naruto puts his hands into a familiar cross like seal. As Kakashi watches with his eye, the shinobi's chakra forms into a familiar pattern. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

Trying not to give him anymore time to think Kakashi charges Naruto wind whistling in his ears, his Kunai slashing towards the young sage's arm.

The real Naruto once again grabs ahold of Kakashi's wrist just as his clone goes to deliver a punch. The origional Naruto's eyes suddenly widen and within a flash blocks his own clone's punch and pushes it away.

A sudden hum comes from the copy ninja and his body distorts and the image fades becoming a pillar of crackling light.

A scream erupts from the older Naruto as he's enveloped in the pillar of electricity. Blood flowing from his nose, ears and mouth. The heat is so extreme that the leaves and branches at his feet instantly burst into flames. The jutsu dies down and the orange clad shinobi tilts sideways and topples over onto the ground only for the image to fade away being replaced by a burned and still smoking husk of what was obviously a log.

The clone gives the log a slightly perturbed look for a moment as he scratches the back of his head. Releasing a pent up breath, a slight pout firmly in place, he looks around. Spotting the young Sakura a smile suddenly blooms on his face. If anyone who knew him had seen it they would have uneasily translated the look. "_I have an idea and someone isn't going to like it."_

Without giving the young Sakura time to think, the clone suddenly charges the girl. Another Kakashi clone suddenly appears behind Naruto's clone posed to strike but Naruto's clone quickly dispels it with a lightning fast jab at least twice as fast as any strike previously displayed in the fight.

He lunges towards the pink haired girl, giving the girl no time to do anything but scream, but just as his hand reaches her shoulder soil flies upwards. Looking down as he feels his shape start to dissolve, the clone sees a kunai sticking into what would have been his gut. It was being held by a half buried Kakashi.

Kakashi watches the clone poof into a cloud of smoke and without warning feels a slight pin prick suddenly in the side of his neck. He reaches up and finds the syringe he dropped in an attempt to knock out the prisoner a few minutes earlier.

With a sinking feeling in his gut, he looks over his shoulder to see the original Naruto looking at him.

As horror sinks in, the copy ninja realizes one of the things that had been bothering him. What he had not figured out, up till just this moment."You could sense where I was this entire time couldn't you?" Kakashi states faintly already starting to succumb to the drug. There was no other way for him to have countered his clone so quickly. He had to have know that the Kakashi's clone was there and was going to take the other clone out before he got to Sakura.

Naruto saw the look of desperation and concern reflected on Kakashi's face as his eyes darts quickly in the direction of his students. He was genuinely afraid for them. "Yes." Naruto reponds softly.

Kakashi desperately wretches himself away from the needle and stumbles over the uneven soil away from the older Naruto. His hand unlatches one of the snap buttons located under one of his vest's pockets. Naruto jumps infront of him and knocks his hand away from the pocket before he could catch the falling scroll. Ending what Naruto interpreted as a last desprite attempt to fight.

Instead of more disappointment a slight look of hope enters the copy-nin's eyes. Not missing this Naruto looks down quickly but is only in time to see the previously knocked out dog, scroll secured in it's jaws, disappear into a cloud of smoke.

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_**Author's note:**_If anyone tells you it's easy to write a fight scene do me a favor and kick them... Hard. I've never seriously tried to write a fight scene before. Let's just say the construction process wasn't pretty. I had to constantly look over what I wrote to keep it from sounding like (I hit him, He kicks me back, I kick him back, etc etc) Just the thought of it ... *shiver* Anyways I hope I put enough strategy in it to make it interesting. If I didn't... oh well, I tried. *shrug*

Anyways I know someone is going to complain about me not letting younger Naruto gain like 3 years of experience from one of his older selve's clones. Reason for that is I'm interpreting the whole clone memory thing to only encompass the clone's INDIVIDUAL gained memories. Seriously, it makes sense. If it was the other way around Naruto would be re-remembering his ENTIRE lifetime each time a clone would dispel.


	5. Team 7's requiem?

_**Disclaimor: I don't own Naruto**_

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Naruto stared down at the ground, panting. One minute he was fine and the next he was slammed sideways by some sort of surge of chakra. It wasn't from some technique or anything as far as he knew. It was really odd. The chakra that returned to him for some reason was too strong for him. It was somehow too big? Like it belonged to him but it wasn't? Which was kinda a weird feeling.

Whatever the reason most of the chakra just lingered on his skin and dispelled into the air. And for some strange reason thoughts and memories that weren't his went into his head. It felt wrong in some way. Like they didn't belong to him. Them going into his head felt familiar somehow like it has happened before but still wrong, out of place. Why were they so confused, so Angry?

He wasn't angry because he was in some genjutsu. He wasn't fighting Kakashi-sensei. He was worried because... Oh shit! Sakura-chan!

Shaking his head suddenly, putting everything aside Naruto unsteadily surges to his feet and stumbles towards the clearing.

* * *

Sakura watches her sensei fall in slow motion as a chill wraps around her insides.

She remembered his fight with Zabuza. Zabuza was supposed to be some sort of major missing Nin. Sensei said he attempted to kill the Mizukage at some point. Him surviving and escaping told her all she needed to know about the man.

It was one of the rare tactical lessons in the Academy that actually pertained to a Kage level shinobi. It was the lesson dealing with evasion and what skill level a person was at. Anyone can escape a genin even a civilian if the genin was careless enough. Genins and higher can escape a chunnin if they are skilled enough. It's extremely hard to escape a jonin without being a Jonin or at least a skilled chunnin. And it's almost impossible to escape a Kage level shinobi without being a elite jonin or a fellow Kage level ninja. There were exceptions of coarse, mostly dealing with people having skill beyond or below their official rank or the general carelessness of the shinobi being evaded but for the most part a person's rank did correspond with a person's skill in evasion.

In other words Zabaza had been at least an elite Jonin level shinobi if not higher. Before Zabaza's death, sensei was clearly his equal.

A genin may not be skilled in analyzing a battle or the level of a enemy but they still had the basics of situational assessment drilled into their heads. Sakura being the good student that she was knew somewhat, what she was dealing with. The man didn't look winded, he used her sensei's weakness (herself) against him, he turned her sensei's weapon (the drug) against him, and he managed to take out her teacher without taking any damage onto himself.

It didn't take even a genin's pathetic sense of judgment to see that the shinobi standing over her unconscious sensei was a cut above a normal Jonin.

Sakura was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts as she realizes that the man was watching her from his crouched position over her sensei. His hands flashed over her sensei taking out a weapon here a lock pick there.. another lock pick over from this wrapping, a scroll from a pocket.

A chill raced down her spine as she shook while struggling to stand, fighting off the faint feeling that encroached on the edge of her consciousness and trying to fight off the overwhelming urge to cry or the almost as strong urge to be sick. What was she supposed to do? She shook more violently as she realized she couldn't remember anything. Her mind was a complete and utter blank.

"MMMAAANNNN!" The impostor looked onto her sensei and suddenly bursts out as he finishes retrieving her sensei's equipment. "The summon got away." Sakura's already shocked mind vaguely registers the less then sinister voice and what she could only call a pout on his face, in complete disbelief. This was the man that defeated her teacher?

The impostor puts his hands together in a very familiar seal. It was a seal she saw almost every time there was a team spar. Three shadow clones come together in a puff of smoke. It wasn't a surprise to Sakura.

One of them went over to her sensei and began to secure his hands and feet, making sure to carefully bind every finger, preventing them from moving even a fraction of an inch. It almost made her sensei's hands look like triangle molded shovels with all the wire being used.

The other two clones disappeared into the brush without even disturbing the dry leaves under their feet. Not even a moment later an odd crack sound emerges from the Forest and the distinct sound of something falling onto the leaves. A shout of anger sounds out in a slightly different direction and the sounds of flesh hitting flesh a moment later and there too was the sound of something falling onto some leaves.

The two clones casually walked into the clearing with her teammates over their shoulders. For a moment Sakura heart seized in her chest. Why couldn't she move... how did this turn out so badly?

Almost not daring to she lifts her head and looks into the imposter's eyes. They were back to Naruto's sky blue. A fleeting thought passes threw her mind. "_Perhaps the other eyes were how the imposter's eyes really looked like?_"

A grim line crosses the imposter's face as he turns to her once again with a very familiar determined look in his eyes, "I have alot of questions, Sakura-chan." The 'chan' did not sound sincere. "You ARE going to answer them." Sakura's back presses against a tree as she finds a sliver of strength to step back as the Naruto impostor pulls out a kunai and steps forward.

* * *

Birds were chirping. The sky was a clear and a majestic, almost glowing blue. The ground was slightly moist from the dew that had yet to dissolve from the first light of the day. Dragonflies danced in the street being ignored by everyone as they did their little patterns in the air. It was a typical and pleasant day in Konoha by Teuchi's reckoning.

Teuchi always liked the first few hours of the day. He'd always go through the now almost ritualistic process of preparing the broth for the noonday crowd about now. He liked the taste of it when it's been cooking for awhile. Letting it cook for awhile before adding the other ingredients was one of his secrets. It lets the taste strengthen slowly. It was something instant Ramen lacked... as a matter of fact it was something alot of other Ramen chefs couldn't or wouldn't achieve. It was their loss.

It was then that while he was in the process of enjoying the sights and sounds of the village, stirring his pot of broth, when out of nowhere a odd sight met his eyes. A small pug was standing on a larger (and much faster) dog as it practically hurled itself towards the hokage tower.

Seeing ninja or their animals rushing towards the tower wasn't such a odd occurrence. This was a ninja village after all but Teuchi was able, for just a moment, to see the bandanna on one of the dogs.

He would have sworn the Henohenomoheji on the dog's bandanna said Kakashi.

Hoping his eyes had been wrong Teuchi turns back to his broth with a silent prayer for his little friend and his team.

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**Author Note:** You wouldn't believe how stuck I was on this chapter. It looks like nothing yeah but seriously I kept writting too much too soon and it kept coming out as complete crap..


	6. Naruto the Interrogator!

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto_**

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"Come ooonnn, you told me your rank was that of a genin right? Why can't you tell me about whatever lame ass mission you were on?" The older Naruto whined.

Sakura straightened herself up against the tree she was tied too, "Of coarse I'm not going to tell you what mission we were on!"

"Again... genin... stupid missions... In other words missions that are not vital to the village's security." Naruto sits in front of her and unbelievably pouts.

"You are an appalling interrogator Naruto." The small slug summon says as it sticks it's head out of the collar of his jacket.

Sakura lifts her head stubbornly "All I'm required to tell you is my name and rank. It's one of the shinobi rules and a rule of war!"

"So what! It's a stupid rule. You're my PRISONER. That means your supposed to be at my mercy, not the other way around! You're supposed to be giving me useless information in order to keep me from the real information. I'm supposed to trick you into revealing real information. Don't you know how this is supposed to work?" Naruto growls.

"Yes a very good question. Don't you know how this is supposed to work? Didn't Jiraiya teach you anything about getting information out of a unwilling target?" Naruto ignores the little nagging voice on his shoulder as if he couldn't hear it.

"If it's so unimportant, then why do you want to know what our mission was?" Sakura was starting to loose all fear of the impostor with his childish act.

"KEEP TELLING HIM OFF, SAKURA-CHAN!" The younger Naruto cheers from the nearby tree he was tied too.

"SHUT UP YOU...YOU! FAKE ME!" The older Naruto yells back.

The little voice pipes up again, "Why haven't you tried alittle torture yet? By the look of her she wouldn't be able to handle it. Especially if you threaten to give her a nasty scar somewhere."

Naruto looks down at the blue and white summon thinking for a moment and sighs resignedly, "I guess I'm going to have too." He's been trying to get information out of the young Sakura double for a good half an hour. He wanted to avoid anything like this. One thing that has always sat wrong with him was the idea of torture. It just doesn't feel fair to him. Like picking on a little kid or hitting a little old lady.

Making his choice, he determinately pulls out a kunai and inches it towards the young looking Sakura. The girl for the most part puts on a brave face but the older Naruto can't help but notice the slight widening of her eyes, the sweat forming on her brow, and the girl swallowing hard as the Kunai moves towards her cheek and up her face.

"LEAVE HER ALONE YOU BASTARD!" The younger Naruto suddenly bursts out as the kunai moves towards the slightly trembling girl.

Just as the very tip is about to mark the girl's face she flinches back and tears start to form in her eyes. The older Naruto watches the girl lean away from him, he sighs heavily and withdraws the kunai. He turns away from the scared girl. "I can't do it..." He finally murmurs towards his shoulder.

"Why not? You're going to have to torture information out of people at some point you know." The little blue and white summon says impatiently. "Going through life as a shinobi without torturing or being tortured is like going through life as a shinobi without killing someone... completely impossible unless you die very young."

The sage lets out a pent up breath and murmurs. "She's too good of an actress. I feel like I would really regret harming her. She really does feel like Sakura."

Katsuyu quirks it's head to the side and looks at the other three who were tied to trees of their own. One was of coarse the younger version of Naruto. The one that was pretending to be Sasuke was still knocked out, at least he seemed to be. The summon highly suspected that the younger Sasuke was in fact faking, waiting for the right moment to 'Wake'. The one they thought might be Kakashi was going to be unconscious for awhile considering the drug bottle they recovered and read. "How about one of the others? Blondie over there shouldn't be too much trouble for you. Except for a few moments in which you have to deal with shadow clones you haven't built any fondness for yourself have you? Not to mention killing clones over and over in practice should help keep you emotionally detached."

The older Naruto ignores the younger Naruto's shout of "BRING IT ON COPY-CAT BASTARD!" and turns towards the summon.

"Maybe later, I need to clear my head. This is giving me a headache" as he says this someones stomach growls loud enough to be heard through out the clearing. Not even a second later another growl sounds out echoing the first.

Both Naruto's turn towards each other and shout, "STOP COPYING ME BASTARD!"

* * *

Iruka thought he knew what to expect. Being summoned to the central conference room in the Hokage Tower was not an abnormal occurrence for him. As a teacher he was often summoned to the room to give details of past students, evaluations for future ones and he would be called for large group mission briefings in the room on the rare occasion that he was actually assigned to go outside the village.

What he did not expect was a full blown war council being called. At least that is what he thought it looked like.

As a educator he knew alot of mindless facts that most shinobi didn't exactly bother with because they were not important to the day to day operations of the village. One of the things he just happened to know as a teacher, was who was on the war council in the rare event that it was called.

The people called first (or called the council together in the first place) were of coarse the most obvious, the leaders of the village. The Hokage at the top rung, the Administration council, and the highest ranked shinobi besides the Hokage. Iruka checked off each as he looked around, The Third was sitting at the head of the conference table smoking his pipe quietly, surrounded by the two primary village elders (Elder Koharu and Elder Homura) and a sharp eyed but yawning Shikaku Nara next to them.

Further down were four masked and hooded ANBU. He didn't know much about ANBU because of the general nature of the group but he's had a theory in the back of his mind from his constant contact with the ones that tended to go in and out of the Hokage's office. The animal they depicted only had something to do with personal preference, he came to believe that the color markings on the mask were the identifying markers that had do with rank and position in the corp. Iruka has seen quite a few in his time from working in the Hokage's office and these seemed different then the ones used by ANBU that normally did hours of guard duty or sent messages for the Hokage.

Which was understandable considering only ANBU captains were the ones called to war councils.

Finally at the end of the table were two others. Inoichi Yamanaka a well known expert in his clan's mind invading arts and psychologist. Lastly speaking to the blond was Ibiki Morino a torture specialist that Iruka had only the slightest of interaction with.

All of these people made up a war council.

What really confused Iruka was not only his required presence but that of a nin-animal? Perhaps the little pug was a witness of sorts? Only reason for his own presence as far as he knew was if he somehow had some vital information that was important enough to effect the village and Iruka honestly didn't have a clue what information he had that would interest a War council of all things.

All Iruka knew that could be any help to this assembled group was about his former students and none of them were above the rank of genin. None of them could even match a weak jonin as of yet. In other words Iruka didn't have a clue what they wanted.

"Ahh Iruka, You're here." The Third nods grimly and sets his pipe down onto the conference table. "And you have the correctly numbered files like I asked?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." All important information in the village was numbered and filed with nothing but a series of numbers. All official labels were outmoded long ago to make information gathering difficult for possible infiltrators.

Iruka quickly place the files in the wrinkled outstretched hands of the Hokage and backs up and gives a quick polite bow.

"Is that all you required today Hokage-sama?" Iruka asks politely. He honestly hoped it was all the elderly leader needed. To be perfectly honest being in the same room with the strongest shinobi in the village wasn't exactly comfortable.

The elderly leader lifts a brow and shakes his head. "I'm afraid that this is one meeting you're going to have to attend Iruka." The Third hands quickly goes through a set of seals and then forces chakra into the seal script on three of the of the files. "You'll be needing these for the meeting."

Casually flipping open the top file Iruka is met with the stats and records of one Sasuke Uchiha. Realizing the significance of the number of files Iruka quickly flips open one of the others hoping it's not what he thought it was. Iruka's stomach however drops when his eyes meet the glossy photographed smiling face of one Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

A cry of terror could be heard within the clearing. "NO DON'T!"

Sakura groans and shakes her head in disbelief.

"PLEASE! MERCY! ANYTHING BUT THAT!"

The situation was getting entirely out of hand. At least in Sakura's mind.

"WWWHHHHYYYY ARE YOU TORTURING ME LIKE THIS... YOU INHUMAN MONSTER?"

Sakura glares across the clearing at the two idiots. Crouched down infront of the younger Naruto was the Older Naruto, with a open cup of ramen noodles. The Elder was slowly slurping the hot stings up while forcing the younger to watch.

"WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE MY NOODLES!"

She didn't know when it began to happen but she was seriously starting to believe that the Older Naruto was somehow... well... actually Naruto.

With a quick slurp of the last of the broth from his current cup the older Naruto cackles, dives back into young Naruto's bag and pulls out another cup. "NOOO NOT THE MISO FLAVOR!"

... She seriously was having little doubt...

* * *

**Author's Note:** A quick note to those of you saying I should get a beta reader, well I would like to redirect you to my profile page to the small section marked (Beta readers). I seriously don't want to copy that onto the end of this chapter. Don't worry I don't bother with endless lists of quotes or old jokes in my profile so it's easy to find. I only have quick notes about my stories or myself.

As for the chapter... this one was surprisingly easy to get done. Don't get your hopes up for the next one anytime soon though. I don't have it planned out yet.


	7. Reports and Puzzles

**Disclaimor: I do not own Naruto**

* * *

At Iruka's entrance many of the other occupants of the room used it as an excuse to stop their polite and probably unwanted conversations. Iruka really wish they wouldn't. It was bad enough that he felt out of place, being the only chunnin present. Being stared at and probably sized up to check if he was actually who he was portraying was not a comfortable feeling.

Deciding to get the awkward moment over Iruka looks around quickly, spots a seat over between Ibiki and the four ANBU and goes to sit in it. It was far from the head of the conference table. As he walked he nervously shuffles the three academy files, all the while Ignoring the looks from all the superior ranked shinobi in the room.

A moment passes and just as the Third clears his throat the door opens once more. An elderly man near the age of the third walks into the room and without a word moves towards a empty seat near third and sits besides the other two elders.

Iruka knew little about the man and only that much because he liked to learn obscure history. Danzo-dono at one time was known as a rival to Saratobi for the position of third Hokage. He was rarely seen but when he was it was usually in conjunction with a important or dangerous situation involving village security.

Seeing the look on his face as his gaze swept the room Iruka had no doubt that the man still saw the Third as a rival.

"Before we get into any newly acquired information I believe we need a complete debriefing for all those here who are not caught up on the situation. All of you take note this is a possible A-class if not S-class emergency. It is not to be discussed outside this room without my approval." Saratobi nods to the Lemur masked and hooded ANBU midway down the table clearly signaling them to begin.

Lemur stands, picks up a report from in front of them and begins to read in a decidedly feminine voice. "At 0815 nin-summon Pakkun entered main-gate number 3 riding another nin-summon... Someone didn't list it's name." The ANBU pauses at this and stares at Pakkun, clearly, even though no one could see it, giving the summon a pointed look.

Pakkun growls up at ANBU and at the suddenly appearing pen in the ANBU's hand "He wasn't involved. So his name isn't important, get on with it" and returns back to what he was doing. Most notably biting his back flank.

Lemur tilts her head slightly too the side for a moment then slips the pen back into one of her many pockets, clears her throat and looks back towards the page. "Nin-summon Pakkun gave the emergency code for Genin team captured/killed at the gate. Team 7 specifically. It is under command of Jonin Kakashi Hataki, with students: Genin Sasuke Uchiha, Genin Sakura Haruno, Genin Naruto Uzumaki. Team formed June 28th, exactly 3 months ago. Last known location; 60 miles Northeast only two miles off the main trading route to wave."

The room was deathly silent. Inspite of the relatively weak nature of Genin squads it was generally considered a taboo practice to actually attack one without significant reason. All villages had a unspoken policy of nonviolence towards another village's genin squads unless there was a clear conflict with official orders or if it's a time of war. The last thing any village wanted was another village actively hunting and attacking the next generation. It was one can of worms even the most ruthless village wouldn't touch.

Even missing-nin's sometimes respected the policy. They would many times offer a low level or very young shinobi a chance to run instead of risk killing them and incurring the further wrath of one of the major villages.

Grim looks pass over the faces of those in the conference room. Iruka Umino looked on the verge of being sick. Villages have gone to war with less provocation...

The ANBU turns the page to the next one and starts once again. "ANBU squad 5 along with Tsume Inuzuka were ordered to acquire scent samples from all four captured nin from within the village and were immediately deployed to track the team. They were order to not engage unless further harm was in the process of being done to the captured squad. Last radioed report was at 0940, 33 minutes ago. No sign of the genin team or their captor as of yet."

Lemur turns towards the Hokage and gives a slight bow. "That's the end of my report Hokage-sama."

Saratobi nods acknowledging the end of the report and turns towards the small summon whom was currently in the middle of the table as the ANBU settles back down among the other masked shinobi. "Pakkun, report!"

The small pug straightens and grumbles. "I was summoned last night by Kakashi."

"Time?" Another ANBU interrupts in a muffled voice this time the person was wearing a mask with some type of bird.

"Don't know... it was late." Pakkun shakes his head slightly in a way dogs often do to get rid of a kink. "He had a prisoner. Weird teen. Looked and smelled almost exactly like that Naruto kid, only thing though, he was a few years older. He had the smell of a teen... I could smell the extra stuff in his system, hormones or whatever.."

Pakkun lets out a pent up breath and continues. "Kakashi told me that he was possibly a very dangerous shinobi. My orders were to not engage but to guard the teen with the help of Naruto and Sakura. That Sasuke kid was still recovering from something that happened on the mission and needed the extra rest."

"Was there something wrong with Kakashi?" Ibiki asks his eyes narrowed.

"He smelled like soldier pills and he said something about needing sleep." Pakkun states. "I was told to wake him up immediately if the prisoner even moved in his sleep."

Ibiki grunts and nods his head.

"Only a few hours later I heard the kid mumbling in his sleep and he suddenly yelped. I don't know why he did that but I went and got Kakashi up." The pug smacks his jaws together a few times distributing moisture threw out his mouth. He was obviously not used to talking this long. "The kid managed to untie himself or something. Kakashi was having some real problems with him. The fight was alittle too fast for me to get a good picture of what was going on. I managed to bite him but then the kid knocked me out. When I woke up and saw the kid standing behind Kakashi with an actual needle stabbed into Kakashi."

At this Pakkun growls to himself not really looking at anyone. "Kakashi quickly did the hand signs; get scroll, retreat and report. He dropped a scroll from his front vest, I grabbed it and I reverse summoned myself."

"After that I ran through the Hatake kennels and made one of the faster dogs run me all the way to the gates and then to you Hokage-sama. I don't think that pup that gave me a ride is even trained yet." The dog pauses, thinking for a moment, grumbles to himself and then goes back to biting his flank.

* * *

Naruto was starting to worry. This genjutsu was lasting a long time. Jiraiya may not have been an expert in the area of genjutsu, but he made sure that Naruto knew as many facts about it as possible. It was his main weakness afterall.

Unlike sharingan techniques like Tsukuyomi most genjutsus didn't last more then one or two hours. Sharingan techniques could distort a person's perception of the flow of time. Because of this they could last for what seemed to be hours. Normal practitioners of genjutsu were limited by how long they could maintain the flow of chakra. If Naruto had the chakra control for genjutsu's even he would only be able to maintain one for two hours.

He opened his eyes from his position on the ground. He decided to let his clones feed the awake prisoners (No Ramen!) while he meditated. He flexed his hand looking down at the recent but healing stab wound. The time limit was nearly up and there was still no sign of the genjutsu starting to fail. That meant that this wasn't a regular genjutsu.

The only people left in the world with the Sharingan was Sasuke, Kakashi and that guy with the orange mask. Kakashi was dead or at least gravely injured, not to mention there is no way he'd put him in a genjutsu like this unless absolutely necessary. Sasuke was nowhere near Konoha during Pain's attack at least according to his sage senses. That meant that somehow the rinnegan had a unknown genjutsu ability, or that masked Sharingan user was near Konoha earlier and somehow caught him in a genjutsu, or this wasn't a genjutsu.

The first possibility wasn't very likely. Yes, he believed that the rinnegan probably had the ability to produce a genjutsu but after fighting the Kyuubi (draining a massive amount of the enemy's chakra) and the fact that he didn't try a genjutsu earlier lead him to believe it wasn't Pain's strong suit. His weakness to genjutsu was known after all and he didn't believe that someone on Pain's level wouldn't exploit such a weakness early on.

The second was the most possible but for some reason he didn't think so. First off he'd at least remember vaguely seeing the sharingan if he was in one of those genjutsu's. And if it was a genjutsu, why hide the fact if they knew he couldn't break out of it? And most important of all why wasn't he being tortured? That ramen earlier tasted like the real thing..

This not being a genjutsu didn't make any sense. Why was everyone younger? Tou-san said transporting inside the mind had never been done before. Could he have transported to a different part of his mind that held memories instead of transporting out?

It was a weird theory but it made sense somehow. He couldn't be tied to the tree. Sasuke couldn't be that young again. He should be worried about getting Sakura angry not outright threatening her. And inspite of how much he wanted it otherwise Kakashi-sensei was not merely drugged. He was dead or very close to it.

Closing his eyes once more he concentrates on balancing the surrounding nature chakra into himself. Very little was known about human-sage's. Perhaps he could find a way out... figure out what was truly going on. It was a slim hope but it was all he had.

With the movement of chakra into him he could feel the countless little lifeforms moving and shifting.. living and dying under the ground. Earthworms twisting and consuming the decay of the soil.

Countless beings flew through the air unseen and unnoticed to most. The sap within the trees inched along reaching out through all it's branches and roots feeding itself. Leaves breathing absorbing the morning sun energizing itself, supporting the countless little beings that made themselves at home among the branches.

And in the distance, Naruto could just barely feel a presence. People were watching..

* * *

The atmosphere in the conference room was stifling. Saratobi turns towards the Jonin Intelligence officer whom was seated down alittle further along the table. "Did you manage to decode Kakashi's report Shikaku?" The third asks patiently.

The lazy Jonin nods slightly towards the Hokage, "Yes, Hokage-sama. We managed to bypass the seal and the traps Kakashi planted inside the scroll however there was more then a report inside sir."

The room settles for a moment digesting the information.

Shikaku opens a file and pulls out a stack of photographs. He passes them to the Sandaime. "There was in fact six items in the scroll, sir. The report itself, four small sized books, and a stone necklace."

"Very well Kakashi's report first." Saratobi orders patiently. Like many experienced shinobi the old Kage knew that if you had the time, going over important information in a steady manner could be the difference between life and death. It would take hours to get to the genin... one or two extra minutes rushing to get to them could be easily made up for in that journey. Making a sound decision was more important at the moment.

"It was written while he was traveling sir. No extra details. It's basically notes he kept for when he writes the real report." Shikaku says seriously before he reads:

_Mission: Protect Tazuna the bridge-builder. _

_Mission classified rank 'C'_

_Determined that mission has been misclassified._

_Client lied about threat. Client reason: Insufficient funds_

_Mission is believed to now be rank 'A'_

_Squad encountered two chunnin level missing Nin_

_Missing nin: 'Mist' Meizu & Gouzu "Demon Brothers"_

_Status: neutralized_

_Reason for continued mission: It's been determined that the building of the bridge to Wave is vital to the continued well being of __countless__ citizens of the country of Wave._

_NOTE: Client has informed Jonin Captain that the person who Hired opposing Missing Nin goes by the name of Gato._

_Team encountered Elite Jonin level missing Nin_

_Missing Nin: 'mist' Zabaza Momochi, Demon of the hidden Mist, one of the seven sword men of the mist_

_Status: Temporarily neutralized (place in temp death state viva Senbon) _

_Team encountered High Chunnin- Jonin Nin_

_Nin status not confirmed: believed to be accomplice of Momochi, was disguised as Hunter Nin in pursuit of Momochi._

_Jonin captain received injury: (chakra exhaustion)_

_Jonin captain assigned team excersize: Tree Walking_

_Tree walking assignment: Complete_

_Team Encountered Missing nin Zabaza Momochi & now named false Hunter Nin (Name: Haku)_

_Status: (Haku), Momochi and Gato-Neutralized_

_SPECIAL NOTE: Jonin Captain during fight with Momochi determined that Genin Naruto Uzumaki accessed Kyuubi's chakra while out of sight (Hidden Mist technique)._

_Mission status: Complete._

_WARNING- Possible Unknown threat became known after encounter with (Haku) & Momochi was concluded. Has Abnormal likeness to Genin Naruto Uzumaki. Threat appeared unconscious near location of Genin Naruto Uzumaki. Jonin Captain has determined that threat possibility is very high. _

_Current Threat Status: Drugged. Hand damaged (abnormal stone found in wound)_

_Threat searched. Items of interest sealed._

_Jonin Captain issues emergency field mission (EFM) to squad. _

_Mission: Return possible threat to Base ASAP._

Shikaku looks up from the decoded report. "That's the whole report Hokage-sama."

The Third glances up at him, deep in thought. "List the sealed items."

Shikaku brings out a list. "There are four books: A Bingo Book with three hundred and thirty eight bounty recipes tucked inside, Another Bingo Book looks like a standard Konoha field issue, "_Tales of the Gutsy Ninja_ " By Jiraiya-sama, and finally a copy of '_Icha Icha_ _Tactics_ ' according to the cover it is also by Jiraiya. The other item sealed was the 'abnormal stone' I believe. It has traces of blood on it. I had it sent to the ANBU medical information retrieval unit." He nods in the direction of the silent ANBU in the Lizard mask.

"We only received it a half an hour ago. It's still being tested Hokage-sama." The ANBU states before anyone could ask.

"Tell us about the books. Especially any abnormalities." The Hokage picks up his pipe again still absorbing the information.

Shikaku lifts a brow, "It would be simpler to list what's not abnormal about them Hokage-sama. Only thing among them not out of the ordinary is '_Tales of the Gutsy Ninja_ ' and even that is odd considering it was published over thirteen years ago and it wasn't a extremely popular book even then." He nods towards his old teammate.

"Noone's heard of '_Icha Icha Tactics_ ', sir. The book had a price on it and we managed to trace the price sticker to a store here in Konoha. They never heard of it and it's not listed in any of their records. We found a code in the front cover and according to the ink's age it was put there within the last month. We're still working on breaking it." Inoichi says unemotionally.

"And the bingo books?" Saratobi says eyebrow lifted.

Ibiki, arms crossed looking on grimly says, "My department's been looking through the bounty receipts. Whoever owned that bingo book is or was very old, not to mention dangerous. There's even a information page of you at the age of twelve in that book, Hokage-sama. It's not just old information. There's a massive collection of recent entries in the back.

We haven't had a chance to do more then flip through the pages but if it's a legitimate bingo book it's could be very valuble to the village."

Shikaku turns towards the Hokage. "I decided to personally look over the standard issue bingo book first. I was thinking that I would eliminate it as a clue so I could start collecting information on one of the more complicated items."

He takes a slightly frustrated breath, "According to the inside cover sir, it was issued by Konoha and it won't be published for another three years."

* * *

**Author Note:** I was trying to keep this chapter from becoming a info dump. I don't know if what I did worked or not. Anyways, what's a info dump? Well.. it's the point in the story where an author reveals a significant amount of information and it's written so badly that the reader wants to pass it by. Only thing is it's giving information that if the reader chooses to bypass the section they'll be lost. Major signs of one include: Large paragraphs of mindless information, one character talking for a very long duration, the reader getting a headache from too much storyline condensed into one little section, a character telling a massive amount of the story instead of actually showing the story etc etc.

It's actually very common in timetravels. It's one of those annoying little habits some writers have and I'm trying to keep from making one. Sometimes it's hard to prevent. Feel free to tell me how I did.

(Going to edit this in a bit... It's readable though so... *shrug*)


	8. Trail of Logic!

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

* * *

**Earlier **

A foot landed on the small patch of green moss and nearly slipped out from under the runner. Not unused to such an occurrence the sandal clad foot righted itself immediately. Tsume growled as she ignored the near spill. Near spills after all were common for ninjas if one insisted on running through trees before the dew was even dry from the ground.

She lifts her head again and channels a bit more chakra into her upper sinuses drawing in the overwhelming scent of rotting and growing vegetation, all the while trying to filter and then ignore the little scents that were interfering and blocking her from finding those kids. Most notably the surrounding four ninja running along side her and her partner. She ignores them for the most part. They were just another typical ANBU unit.

"Smell anything yet?" She practically barks at her large dog Kuromaru, jumping in the tree in front of her and then into the next. She had a good sense of smell but the dog was far beyond her in that regard. It took awhile but Inuzuka hounds learned much like their partners to channel chakra into their already superior noses. Few if any humans, even talented Inuzuka's, could ever match the natural born skill of a well trained K9.

The black and white dog barks and turns it head. "Up ahead I smell at least two of the scents... they're a few hours old."

Not having to say a word the dog continues to run and leap for a few more minutes till he stops and point his nose at a spot on the ground.

A quiet female ANBU in a rat mask slowly moves forward looking into leaves. Lifting her hand she quickly signs in code: Wire-trap! wire, 12 o'clock, disarm!

There is the sound of a 'thunk' and looking towards the tree a single kunai is seen quivering in the wood. The trap springs and a tree trunk complete with sharpened branches sticking out, speeds towards where the single wire was situated a ragged and a wood looking camouflaged rope still holding the entire torn up trunk tied to a large upper branch creakily strains under it's weight.

Tsume was always impressed on how fast ANBU moved with basics like kunai throwing. Looking at the angle she quickly deduces that the assist was done by the Ox masked ANBU in the black hooded coat.

Moving forwards Rat signals the squad a total of four more times and four more times one or another of them quickly disarm the traps.

Waiting patiently Tsume moves forward only when Rat gives the all clear.

Moving quickly she crouches down towards the disturbed leaf covered soil and inhales. "Two scents. I think sleeping bags were placed here. They didn't even try to cover their tracks."

"It was Kakashi and the Uchiha kid that slept in the sleeping bags." The dog growled out as he moves the five feet between the two indentations inhaling the lingering scent.

Looking around at the foliage for a disturbance, "Over there... they're light, probably the kid's but he definitely went in that direction."

"Yes more scents over there..." The dog barks out.

"Kakashi also?" the Hawk masked ANBU asks pointing at a partial print while shifting the overly large equipment on his back.

Inspite of the situation, Tsume couldn't hold in the sudden bark of laughter. "Ya a rookie kid? Kakashi isn't going to leave foot prints."

The young ANBU scratches the back of his head slightly. It was obvious inspite of the mask that the rookie was blushing.

Ox grimly looks over at Hawk, "Kakashi would have covered all signs of a camp unless it was a emergency. We're lucky there's this much."

Kuromaru ignores the conversation and goes to smell the pointed out spot, "It's the girl... she passed by here twice. Also that Naruto kid was here too but he didn't linger more then a minute or two."

Tsume signals the ANBU and points in the direction of a nearby clearing, "Rat, this wasn't the main camp. That direction needs to be checked."

Nodding quickly Rat and Horse cautiously move towards the area. Ox stops Hawk before he moves to assist, "Hook up the long distance radio and contact the Otafuku Gai relay station. We'll have something to report soon."

Hawk snap to attention. "Sir!" and pulls off the equipment laden backpack.

* * *

**Konoha: Meeting**

_'_"_According to the inside cover sir, it was issued by Konoha and it won't be published for another three years."_ Sakaku says.

The sound of many scoffs and grim half laughs fill the conference room.

"Obviously we are dealing with a time traveler, Hokage-sama." Elder Homura says with a droll look, clearly not believing his own statement.

Sighing heavily Saratobi looks around at the other occupants at the table. "This is not a laughing matter." He states softly. The room quiets and he looks over towards Shikaku once again and nods his head clearly signaling him to continue.

"I went to look for other signs of forgery sir and what I found is there is no other signs." Shikaku glares down at a couple of the photographs. "I checked some incoming reports from a few of the missions coming in. Sir, three days ago a grass missing-nin was killed by one of our shinobi. The incident happened on the complete other side of Wind country. This book was already printed according to the ink's age. What's odd is this kill was recorded in notable achievements under our shinobi's profile in the book.

That is but one example. I've come across at least three others that are within the last week." Shikaku taps the photo of the book. "Not a single thing I've gone over in this book has been disproven so far Hokage-sama. Sir, I believe someone might be trying to draw us out into a confrontation of some sort. With all of this pre-knowledge and arranging all of these deaths there is a high possibility we are dealing with a very large organization. There's a real possibility it's one of the other major villages."

Saratobi rubs his whiskered chin looking down at the pile of photos. He flips through them thinking and comes to a picture of the 'stone'. It had obviously been professionally cut before it was damaged. There were perfectly marked angles and it was in a octagon shaped cylinder. It had a odd purplish look to it but the aged shinobi assumed it had something to do with all the blood covering it. On the top it had the remains of a silver eye-hook, the middle had dozens of spider web like cracks and the very bottom looked like it had been blown off somehow. The stone whatever it was, was clearly ruined.

With his thoughts still on the stone, "Lizard, I assume you at least have the blood-type at the moment?"

A bit of shuffling was heard down at the other end of the table. "Blood type 'B', sir." The ANBU captain replies.

A half remembered memory nags at the edge of elderly Shinobi's consciousness. Wasn't his...? "Iruka... tell me what is Naruto's blood-type."

He too shifts through some pages. The chunnin clears his throat, this meeting couldn't have been easy on him, "His blood type is 'B' also sir." he replies faintly.

The elderly Hokage ponders for a moment remembering old academic theories, long forgotten possibilities. The odd thought must have somehow show on his face...

"Saratobi..." Comes the slightly harsh voice of Danzo.

Being the learned shinobi that he was, Saratobi knew his faults well. At times when something out of the ordinary came about he had a tendency to come up with wild theories or at least look at the more impossible explanations a bit too closely.

On many of these occasions Danzo would call him on them, keeping the more 'professor' part of his personality in check. It would sometimes begin to interfere with the task at hand. It was one of the rare times that Danzo was actually beneficial to 'The Professor'.

Saratobi puts the theory aside for now to be examined later on if needed, as he looks away from Danzo's narrowed eye. "Humm, I've decided the next course of action." All present become respectively quiet. "Whom ever this is, is extremely powerful. Kakashi was a leading expert in Ninjutsu and was soundly defeated. We need to capture this person or at least convenience them to give themselves up. For that reason I'm sending Kurenai and Maito Gai. If an expert in Ninjutsu can't stand against him perhaps one of those two can. Also Iruka..."

The young Chunnin lifts his head suddenly completely alert. "Sir?"

"You're going with them." At the confused look the Hokage gives the chunnin a slight smile, "The person that captured the team looks like Naruto and smells like Naruto according to Pakkun. There is a high probability that if this person did that good of a study of Naruto then they are probably aware of your history with him. You being there might provide a needed advantage."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Saratobi lifts his hand in a signal. A nondescript ANBU appears at his side. "Your squad is accompanying them. Summon Kurenai, Gai, and your squad to the mission office you'll be leaving immediately after the briefing."

Danzo makes a rude sound in the back of his throat. "Isn't that alittle bit much Saratobi?"

The aged Hokage gives his rival a ironic and sad half-smile. It wasn't often that Danzo considered Saratobi's measures too much. They were usually not harsh enough for the old war hawk. "They're within a day's travel of the village. I want this threat taken care of quickly, one way or another."

* * *

After looking over the battlefield and getting what information they could the group of ANBU and the tracking pair quickly picks the trail up once more but not before they radio to base with what information they knew.

Only half an hour later, they catch up to the group and set themselves up in the trees and bushes to watch them from the shadows. They stay on guard noting all movement in the camp as their orders dictate and settle down to wait for backup.

It was only a little while later after the odd teen opened his eyes from meditating briefly, that Ox, the captain of this particular group, spots him looking directly in their direction.

Ox was sure they were in deep enough foliage to not be visually seen but he had a nasty feeling that the kid knew they were there anyways.

* * *

Sakura watched the older Naruto get up moodily from the middle of the clearing. The younger was still glaring at the older. He hasn't stopped grumbling about the rice balls that the clone fed them. She didn't much like them herself but considering the circumstances they were lucky to even get that much.

Her thoughts must have wondered because next thing she knows the older Naruto is next to her causing her to start, hitting her head against the tree behind her.

She still found it shocking how some Ninja could move that quietly and quickly. Kakashi-sensei did it all the time. She highly suspects that he does it hoping that they would start catching on to his movements. It was a unnerving training technique but she believes that given enough time they will eventually catch on. Only thing about it was she was pretty sure Kakashi-sensei receives some sort of perverse enjoyment out of it.

Looking up at the Older looking Naruto, she's struck once again by the little signs that pointed at him somehow being in fact Naruto. He always moves his head a certain way. It wouldn't be impossible to imitate but it would be very difficult for someone not used to it. There is also the way he carries his shoulders.

The man grumbles briefly as he takes out a kunai. Her squeak of surprise is ignored and for a small moment Sakura almost believes that she's wrong and he was in fact about to kill her.

She must have be more out of it then she thought, because all that goes through her mind in that specific moment is it wasn't very nice thing to give someone. The rice-balls that is. The thought didn't even finish processing until she has to catch herself from falling to the ground from the sudden lack of support. He cut the ninja wire holding her. "HUH?.."

"Go and untie the others and if you can, hit the bastard a couple of times... I know he's faking anyways." The older Naruto says grumpily.

"Why are you letting us go?" Sakura couldn't believe that actually came out of her mouth. Why can't she leave some things alone? What if he changes his mind all of a sudden?

The Sage gives her a sheepish look while scratching the back of his head. "Well this is either a really good genjutsu or it's all inside my head anyways. So basically no point in bothering with keeping you guys tied up."

"NARUTO!" comes a shocked but familiar voice from his collar. "I am NOT a figment of your imagination!" Earlier when Sakura would have asked about the little slug she was otherwise occupied with Naruto's 'interrogation' but now that that pressure was over she couldn't help to be curious about the little thing. It wasn't after all a everyday occurance seeing a talking garden pest. "You tie her back up this instant! Of all the irresponsible things to do!"

Naruto sighs at the nagging voice and looks back at Sakura contemplating.

Seeing the turn of events Sakura puts her hands up into the universal sign of surrender. "I'm fine with being a figment of your imagination! Please don't tie me back up!"

The Sage looks back down at the slug with a slightly smug look. "See everything fine. She agrees that she's a figment of my imagination."

The usually soft spoken and kind slug doesn't answer but gives a little huff and ducks back into his collar. "...OWWW OW STOP... OWWW STOP biting me!... FINE if you want her tied back up you do it." With that Naruto plunges his hands into his shirt, pulls out the slug and Sakura suddenly finds a slightly warm and slimy thing in her hands glaring up at the older Naruto. The little thing was practically seething.

"You pick me ba...ACK!"

Sakura mind unfreezes suddenly, she frantically shakes her arm in complete horror and shrieks at the top of her lungs. "EWWW... SLIMY... get it OFF!... GET IT OFF!...It's STICKING!"

Ignoring the screeches behind him the older Naruto walks over to his younger and opens the little copy's bag and takes out a new cup of ramen. Not saying a word the Older Naruto pours some boiling water into the cup and reseals the top. Placing the sealed cup on a nearby rock he goes over slashes the ninja wire releasing the smaller copy.

Not understanding what the weird copy was doing Younger Naruto stares in confusion. Without any preamble the Sage picks up the cup Ramen and places it in the hands of the younger.

"Sorry" The sage says with a huff, arms crossed, looking the other way.

The younger Naruto looks up at him bugged eyed with his mouth wide open in shock. "Wha?"

"Well you see.. I.. well maybe I should say 'we'..." The older Naruto fidgets trying to find the right words to explain himself and the situation. What exactly do you tell a figment of yourself? Should he avoid telling him he's just a 'part' of him? Should he treat little Naruto like a shadow clone?

He pauses for a moment trying to collect his thoughts, opens his mouth once more but is interrupted by the sound of something falling onto the leaves.

Looking over and realizing there was a sudden lack of screeches, Both Naruto's take in a sight that causes a sudden upsurge of complete wonder.

Laying spread eagle on the ground, red dress glaringly obvious against the dark leaves, was the young pale Sakura, in what seemed to be a peaceful rest. On her forehead was the, innocent looking, but seething white slug that Older Naruto placed in her care.

Mouth still agape younger Naruto points at the summon and says in complete worshipful awe. "NINNNJAAA SLUUUG!"

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_ I have to come up with a name for the older Naruto that distinguishes him from the younger. I was thinking of making it a running gag of them both constantly answering to the name but I think I need something more too... Maybe something like "Naru" or "Sage" or just "Naruto-san" with the younger being called "Naruto-kun". Anyways if anyone has any good ideas that doesn't deviate too far from his name I'm open to listen to suggestions. Might even open a poll if I can't decide between suggestions if I like that many.

Oh and you guys have to remember that I'm not writing from an outline or anything like that. This is totally on the fly. Outlines for some reason never work for me (even if they help me sometimes when I can't think of the next chapter).. the story ends up changing too much with in only a chapter or two.


	9. A Deeply Rooted Problem

**_Disclamor: I do not own Naruto_**

* * *

Shadows shifted through the trees. Very little marked their passage. Not the animals. Not the leaves. Not the sounds of the forest. Only the momentary displacement of air and the moment of heat all living things give off.

Shifting in what would seem to be a pattern they surround a group of similar figures.

One of the shadows lifts a hand and moves it in a pattern. _'Targets confirmed, Targets off guard.' _

Another shadow lifts it hand moving it in a similar fashion '_Wait for team two to get into position' _

A third shadow lifts it hand _'Team two contacted, eta 10 minutes' _

* * *

The older Naruto stared down at the young looking Sakura in slight bemusement. "How did you knock her out?" He asks as he lifts one of the girls arms and lets it go, letting it fall to the ground with a sound 'flump'.

Katsuyu huffs, "Naruto, I AM a medical specialist. Unlike other ninja I can easily manipulate the chemicals in the body to knock someone out." The small thing sounded alittle offended that it wasn't being taken seriously.

"That's so... COOL!" The younger Naruto exclaims, there were practically stars in the little guy's eyes "Slug-sama please please teach me! I'll work really HARD!" A brief thought of knocking out a 30 story giant and being named Hokage flashed through the child's mind.

Taken back by the obvious signs of hero worship, the little slug goes to reply but is interrupted.

"Idiot, get it off of her."

Naruto lights up as he turns towards the voice which came from a figure still tied to a nearby tree, "Sasuke! You're awake!"

The sage huffs slightly, "The bastard's been awake this whole time."

Everyone ignores the comment much like they did earlier when he informed the pink haired girl, "It knocked her out idiot, get.. it... off.. of.. her.." Sasuke says.

The older Naruto alittle more skilled in judging a person's emotions then his younger counterpart, could see that the young memory projection of Sasuke (at least that's what he believes him to be) was annoyed at still being tied up. He could tell by the way the boy was tightening and untightening his hands. His little rope escape jutsu couldn't undo those knots apparently.

"TEME!" The younger Naruto was alittle flustered at forgetting about Sakura in his shock over the little slug being able to knock out someone that much larger then it.

Not thinking he goes to pick up the slug but suddenly finds a hand around his wrist. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. It'll knock you out too.." The older says in warning letting the younger go and eyeing the little slug tentatively.

Naruto quirks his head to the left thinking and suddenly having a idea he picks up a nearby stick and goes over to his unconscious teammate. "Slug-sama I'm not going to hurt you. Stay very still for a minute, Okay?.."

The slug didn't say anything but the older Naruto had a feeling that this wasn't going to go as the younger Naruto planned. He was proven right a moment later when instead of falling to the dead leaves Katsuyu slips himself onto the end of the stick and slowly starts inching forward.

"Umm Slug-sama what are you doing?" There was a slight note of panic in Naruto's voice.

The slug once again responds non verbally by continuing to move along the stick towards Naruto's hand.

Suddenly images flash through the 13 year old's mind. Pictures of the gruesome side of Ninja life. The pictures that were shown during Naruto's past classes to help keep a young ninja from freezing at the wrong moment. "You're a BRAIN EATING SLUG aren't you!" He points at the slug accusingly. There was now a definite note of horror in his voice.

Not answering again the slug determinedly moves towards the young Genin's hand.

The slug finally only a few inches from his hand, the young Naruto completely panics, "PLEASE SLUG-SAMA MERCY! I NEED MY BRAIN! PLEASE, DON'T LAY YOUR SLUG EGGS IN My ears!" he ends in a whimper.

"Umm, you do know Katsuyu is a HE right?" The sage interjects.

Not hearing him, Naruto trys to fling the little creature off, Swinging the stick through the air in a complete panic. His eyes closed cringing away from the white and blue slug.

The orange and blue clad genin doesn't notice as the little thing loses it grip nor as it flys through the air and lands elsewhere.

After a minute Naruto is surprised at his continued consciousness, looks at the stick realizing that the slug isn't on it. He quickly looks all over himself checking places like up his sleeve, his hair, inside his white collar and under his armpits.

"Idiot!" comes a growl from the tree.

The young Naruto looks over at the tree in time to see a green glow come from the skilled garden pest. Sasuke has a snarl on his face as he slumps forward and joins his female teammate.

"NOT SASUKE! HE JUST WOKE UP TOO!" at the sight of his sleeping teammate the young genin overcomes his panic and points at the slug sitting on the head of the raven haired genin. "BAD SLUG-SAMA! COOL OR NOT, I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!"

Completely unperturbed, the slug gives the boy a bored look.

Only half listening to the loud and oddly one-sided confrontation, the sage stands suddenly looking towards the surrounding forest. A small flash of something catches his attention. Looking up into the branches above the group of young genin, a hidden clone, previously meditating, nods his head towards the original and dispels.

The younger Naruto suddenly stops ranting at the slug and stumbles once again as memories not his own flood his mind. He looks over towards the older Naruto. "We're surrounded..." he says in a small and shocked voice.

Realizing the younger Naruto also received the memories, the sage looks upon him and watches the excess sage chakra not being absorbed by the child but briefly lingering on his skin, he ignores the shock the kid shows over his toad like eyes and nods in conformation. They were very much surrounded.

* * *

The already encompassing silence becomes stifling as the watching ANBU eye the collapsed girl on the leaves. Their orders were not to interfere unless there was a immediate threat to the genin team. Did they consider the slug a life or death threat?

The horse masked ANBU moves his hand in an agitated manner. '_Girl still breathing...'_

'_Injury already done.. wait?' _signs the rookie in the hawk mask.

Rat signals '_...possible.. longer contact... more damage.. '_ She turns towards the large gruff but oddly quiet ANBU. _'Orders?'_

Moving his hands just as silently '_no options... Maintain positions... wait for reinforcements.'_

Hawk moves his hand towards a hidden mic in the front of his mask and taps it in a coded pattern. A moment later he signs, '_team incoming... prepare... eta...'_ The young ANBU suddenly stops signaling and sways on the spot. Not having much of a choice the rookie leaps down onto the forest floor.

Standing back from the ANBU trying to not interfere with their part of the mission, Tsume decides to step in as the rookie starts to act oddly. She silently moves towards him and sniffs him around the face mask trying to detect a possible medical problem.

Not a moment later all those present turn towards a sudden growl. Kuromaru nose is pointed a small distance behind them. Just barely visible among the leaves is a canister. Releasing a silent and invisible cloud of fumes.

"GAS" Growls the dog as it sways and falls down on the spot.

Ox sways dangerously as he hears another of his team fall to the leaves. He turns and says in his gruff voice "It's already in my system... Retreat!" Sight already a blur, trying to warn his team to get away.

Unknown to him all the others were already unconscious.

* * *

"...sai..." the older Naruto says softly to himself.

A sliver of cold races down the young Naruto's spine as he looks over at this older and odd version of himself. He can feel the eyes of the unseen ninja on him and he will never admit it, but it unnerves him. "Umm, Ninja-san? Who are they?" he asks hesitantly

Ignoring him for the moment the older Naruto keeps his narrowed gaze on the trees, clearly seeing something that the younger wasn't. "Katsuyu, I don't like the feeling I'm getting from this. I think I'll play along with whatever this is. I'll pretend this is real. Wake up the guy that looks like Kakashi."

"He's an impostor." The slug says feeling he must point it out again, "I hope you're not making the mistake of trusting him Naruto."

Taking a deep breath, "At the moment, I don't care. He was only going to drug me. At these numbers I might not be able to protect the others."

Katsuyu sighs deeply and inches off of the Dark haired genin and expecting to land onto the ground but finds itself in the hands of the younger Naruto.

Not saying anything he walks over and slips the nin-animal onto his teacher as he reaches for a kunai to slice through the wire holding the copy-nin in place.

* * *

An unsettling white mask peeks out of a cluster of leaves, it's followed by a hand. '_Secondary target is showing signs of being a sensor'_

'_New orders?' _another hand signs, the body it belonged too was well hidden out of even it's own team's sight.

One not bothering with an elaborate hiding spot leans against the back of a nearby tree clearly visible to the other masked ninja, '_Gas won't work... Misinformation... target shows no signs of fatigue or injury from battle... prepare for plan: BETA.'_

* * *

On one end of the rectangular shaped room was a door. On the other side was a scratched, bare surfaced, highly durable looking desk. It was made of solid and extremely heavy metal. The walls of the room were made of a roughly made concrete. The walls pertruded in multiple places to make a dozen diffrent alcoves. All of them were angled towards the desk making them useless to all but the desk's occupant.

The room was dimly lit with dozens of long deep shadows. The type of shadows that were perfect for hiding. There was a light directly pointed towards the door. It in effect had two purposes; to blind anyone coming in from the darkened hallway and to also cause a spotlight effect.

Upon the walls, floor and celling, barely visible even in the best of light, were hundreds of small almost insignificant looking seals. Many of which were set to go off at the slightest miscalculated move.

The room was designed by Danzo himself. It was adequately defensible in his view.

He however at the moment was not thinking of the room or of it's defense.

For years now he'd carefully planned and manipulated events for one situation to occur. Twelve long years of planning and waiting for that specific opportunity to happen. The right moment when the Jinchuriki was vulnerable and his, free and clear, for the taking.

His dreams for the future were many and offen varied depending on which specific scenario he could force to happen. But the Kyuubi extracted or the vessel trained into his personal weapon was always included in them.

The reports from this morning were optimistic. The copy ninja captured and an enemy possibly vulnerable from the fight. One thing the village could always depend on, if someone under the white fang's son was threaten the man made sure to do everything within his power to eliminate the threat or at least evacuate his allies.

Not even he or Sarutobi could come out of an encounter with the man without injury.

It was the perfect moment to act but up to now all other plans to capture the child have resulted in failure. Danzo wasn't a optimistic man, but for once he believed that he may have his weapon soon at hand.

* * *

The sage silently brings out a kunai and holds it in a textbook defensive position. "Katsuyu how long till he's awake?"

"This isn't as easy as knocking someone out, Naruto." The slug glares at him, "The chemicals used on him are unnatural to the body. As a result it's easier to identify them, yes, but it's also takes longer for the body to eject them. The body must build a defense to them. Much like a person gradually acquiring a immunity to a poison."

"Okay okay stop glaring at me. I'm j..." Blond head speeds towards the ground in a sudden burst of speed. A sword swoops over where his head was just a moment before. "DAMN IT... can't you let a person finish talking before you do something like that! BASTARD!" he yells over his shoulder.

No sound emerges from the masked sword wielding figure. Naruto turns and not hesitating he swings his nature chakra enhanced fist into the asked root's ribs. A crack sounds out through out the clearing as the figure is thrown ten feet away into a tree.

Not a second later, he realizes that a foot is flying towards his face, while simultaneously he notices another leg belonging to someone else sweeping along the ground towards his foot.

Naruto moves both arms together crossed before him to block the incoming foot and jumps at the same moment the sweeping leg would have connected with him. The world tilts sickeningly for Naruto. The momentum from the kick hitting his arms without solid footing has him to flipping backwards away from the two new attacking Root.

Flying head over heal, he thinks quickly and attaches himself to the side of a nearby tree and launches himself towards his two attackers before they can blink. A lashed out arm and one of them gets thrown back into a thick bramble bush. Another arm lashes out and the other Root rolls over and over in a haphazard fashion along the dead leaves. Naruto could hear multiple bones breaking along the way.

Landing onto the dead leaves Naruto turns towards his younger self. A boiling rage suddenly courses through him as he spots the funny little fake him slung over the shoulder of one of the Masked Root. A mask with red markings.

Surrounded by four others in defensive positions, the masked root moves his hand into a seal. He concentrates his chakra, prepared to teleport away, only to find himself slamming into a tree and his shoulder freed of his burden.

They quickly regroup and spread out prepared to fight once more. Out of nowhere Naruto quickly identifies the first ANBU he slammed into a tree, the one with the broken ribs. This one's mask has green markings.

The Root keeps a wary eye on him as they stand off and raises a hand and moves it in a complicated manner. It must have made some sense to the others because not a moment later, not a single porcelain mask is seen in the clearing.

* * *

'_Report back to base'_, The white and green masked Root signals another. '_Mission: Failed... Secondary Target: High level threat!'_

* * *

"OWW my head!" The younger Naruto whines, "Why couldn't the bastard get hit instead!"

The older Naruto stays silent but secretly agrees. If the little bastard was anything like the real Sasuke he needed a few hits to the head. He tried to maintain sage mode but staying in such a state for an extended amount of time can really be trying on the body. Now that the fight was over there was no need to maintain it. At least for now. The masked root were not going to come back anytime soon. At least without some serious reinforcements.

Besides Naruto was keeping himself busy patching up the little guy.

"Oi... ninja-san!" The younger addresses him again, drawing his attention away from the bandage he was applying. "How did you beat all those masked bastards! I was only awake for a minute but there were alot!"

"Well, I..." He starts bashfully.

A low grading noise interrupts him from the pile of clothes to the left of them. The older Naruto was wondering when he was going to wake up.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Both Naruto's yell at the groaning Kakashi. Annoyed at him only now waking up.

A flash through the trees suddenly throws the older Naruto off the budding rant he's about to unleash. He turns towards a sudden thunk sound. He spots a Kunai hilt deep into the trunk of a nearby tree and quickly turns towards the direction it was thrown from.

Realizing he shouldn't have dropped Sage mode and being unable to react in time. Naruto sees a Flash of bright green and hears a shout of "DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

And everything goes black.

* * *

_**Author's note:**_ I've heard so much conflicting information about Katsuyu... One source says it's a he another says it's a she... well I'm just going to say it's a he. If it's not canon... oh well. Joke wouldn't work half as good if it's a she.

Sage Naruto's fight with root level ANBU? No contest... sorry if anyone wanted anything more.. I tried!

Anyways I'm still open for suggestions on how people are going to address Little Naruto and Older Naruto... Thanks for all those who wrote reviews and gave me suggestions. I really appreciate them!

**Edit AN**: Bah Naruto's tired.. the slug woke him up in the "almost yesterday" hours of the morning. He had a fight with Kakashi of all people. He's been stressed out trying to deal with his younger self and the posibility that he's trapped in a Genjutsu while captured by one of the Akasuki. Had another fight with Root ANBU. The village isn't in immediate danger as far as he knows so he's not as motivated. He doesn't have as much experience as Jiraiya so it's possible he couldn't have dodged the kick any, where Jiraiya could have had enough time to dodge a slight bit, just enough to prevent himself from being knocked out. And the one that kicked him was GAI of all people... we're talking about the guy that takes out Kisame.

I don't think it's impossible for him to be knocked out in one blow from **GAI** under those conditions... *rollseyes*


	10. Dangers of YOUTH

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**

* * *

Naruto's head was in an unbelievable amount of pain. His eyes watered and he couldn't see straight. He knew he should be remembering something but what it was he couldn't say.

Naruto blinks slowly as he looks in front of him. He sees brown and slightly broken leaves at the same level of his eyes. Before he can comprehend what's happening, and why he wasn't standing up, a sudden pain draws his attention. Looking over towards his arm he spots the recently unconscious Kakashi giving him his version of a smile, a upturned eye.

That's right. He dropped Sage mode too early. Someone kicked him in the head... hard.

"Good Night Na-ru-to!" Kakashi says happily. Naruto could just barely register the slight relief in the voice before his head once again falls to the leaves.

* * *

Naruto was alittle perturbed. The totally awesome older fake him, was taken out in.. just.. one.. kick... Yeah, the guy who did it, he could tell, was super strong too but the guy was... weird. He just couldn't come up with any other word for him.

He knew he should perhaps look at the others following the weirdo to see what type of threat they might be. He wasn't completely oblivious to his training, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of this one Leaf shinobi. It was kinda like seeing a accident in slow motion.

"KAKASHI, my ETERNAL rival! I've come to RESCUE you!" tears stream down the scary man's face... yes scary. Now that he thought about it a bit, he knew another word for the walking neon green oddity. Naruto could feel something inside his head shutter even as he felt himself continuing to stare. He didn't dare take his eyes off of him. If he was someone like Sakura, someone that was inclined to think things through alittle more, he might have concluded that it was a instinctive protective mechanism. It was the instinct that told you NOT to turn your head away from something so obviously NOT sane. "I could not BELIEVE when Hokage-Sama told me that you had been captured! I'm so Happy my rival that YOU'RE ALIVE!"

The man proceeds to put his sensei in a one arm headlock, with tears still streaming down his cheeks looking away into the distance. A moment later his 'sensei' poofs into a cloud of smoke and a log was in his place.

Not noticing, the man continues to exclaim about rivalry and YOUTH.

Daring to look away, Naruto spots his sensei and a lady covered in large bandages a few feet away completely ignoring the strange man, crouching over the awesome older him... that couldn't, well shouldn't be him. He was himself... not this awesome older him.

* * *

Kakashi finishes wrapping the wire around the teen's wrist and slowly and carefully knots the end. Finishing in his task, he looks over his shoulder at his young genin team.

Alive...

His own death would have been meaningless to him, he had long defied it's approach, but his team... A sense of almost overwhelming relief swamps him for a moment. Enemy or not, Kakashi felt gratitude to the impostor. He didn't feel anger towards him, after all it's a shinobi's job to capture his enemies. He was just grateful that the strange Naruto impostor showed mercy in not killing his kids.

The people who knew Kakashi and his past burdens, would have been half surprised that he didn't in fact see Sasuke as the last of Obito's family nor did he see Naruto as the last of his Sensei's. He saw all of them, including Sakura, as not who they were related to, but as the individuals that they were, as his innocent students. Two of which, he knew, carried overwhelming burdens.

For a long time, Kakashi has been suspecting that the Hokage did not in fact place the two with him because of his connections to their dead families. Nor to teach Sasuke to control his Sharingan or Naruto his Sensei's jutsu's. Instead he believed that he was placed with them as more as a way of giving them a teacher that could council them in handling the grief of their individual lives. Someone who could understand them more then most.

The other Jonin have experienced pain on occasion, of coarse, but even Kakashi knew that he had experienced more then his fair share. He knew the feeling of the village's scorn when his father returned from his fateful failed mission. He knew what it felt to loose a loved one. He knew what it felt like to loose others he cared for. But most of all he knew what it felt like to be completely alone. Few within the village have dealt with that much. To be perfectly honest Kakashi is surprised he is so well adjusted.

"IRUKA - SENSEI! What ya doin' here!" his loudest student shouts at the familiar academy teacher.

The chunnin whinces at the sound of the exuberant blond, for a moment making his distinctive scar across his nose wrinkle. "Naruto, quiet! Did you completely ignore everything I said about mission protocol? You shouldn't shout on a mission unless it's absolutely necessary." He admonishes.

Kakashi snorts to himself, you can take the teacher out of the classroom but obviously you couldn't take the classroom out of the teacher.

Getting a hurt pout in return, Iruka sighs to himself, lays a hand on the kid's head and rough ups the blonde's hair as he gives him a slightly wain smile, "The Hokage thought I would be valuable in this mission. I'm happy to see that you're alright too." He says in a kinder voice, answering the child's earlier question.

Kakashi watches the scene and smiles to himself. If anything happened to him, it was nice to know that Naruto had someone else in the village to look out for him.

His thoughts still in that vein, Kakashi suddenly feels something out of place. Quick as a snake, his hand strikes out towards his back. Bringing his hand into visual range he stares for a moment at the Blue and white slug.

Not a moment later a green aura of chakra emerges from the seemingly innocent pest. Not even thinking about what he's doing, Kakashi again reacts automatically and shields his hand with his own layer of chakra, effectively blocking the creature's chakra from himself.

"Kakashi-sensei, you found Slug-Sama! I was wondering where she went!" his loudest student exclaims.

Having seen a trained slug summon before, Kakashi carefully surrounds the little being with his chakra, to keep it from separating itself into multiple selves, he walks carefully towards a open medical kit one of the ANBU had open and withdraws a empty jar.

Doing everything one handed, Kakashi takes out a kunai punctures the jar cap multiple times, he then proceeds to draw a seal over the label titled 'field samples'. With a flash of chakra the seal is firmly in place. Looking it over again he makes a small sound indicating that he's satisfied with his work. He then proceeds to open the top and shove the little creature inside.

Iruka standing nearby, waiting for him to finish, speaks up, "Kakashi-san, the threat level of the prisoner?" He asks, looking down at the older looking Naruto in no little shock.

Kakashi didn't blame him. It was near impossible to maintain a hedge or similar techniques without being fully aware. If it wasn't for the age difference he'd say the personality, though Iruka couldn't see that part, and the looks of the impostor were completely flawless.

"He's an S-rank unknown." He says simply knowing the reaction it was going to bring.

The simple statement breaks Gai out of his lamenting about having had to save him. The taijutsu user automatically drops the log not even indicating that he was aware that he was holding one and turns to his rival, a silent question clearly being communicated.

Kakashi meets his eyes and gives him a serious look, "He had his guard down." Unspoken was the 'we were very lucky' part of his statement.

Every village classified the threat level of the prisoners they took in. The ranking system was one of the few things that was completely universal between them.

Normally it ranged from D-rank threats (civilians) to A-rank threats (Jonin) at least usually. Kakashi himself would be categorized as a A-rank unknown. The unknown part was a simple label indicating what type of threat he would be to his captors, his skill range was just too diverse to narrow down to a few words or even sentences. Gai however would be a A-rank threat but he wouldn't be given the unknown label. Anyone who knew anything about him knew he specialized in taijutsu.

S-ranks however were not even close to a common occurrence. It would be like capturing Orochimaru or a rival Kage. Kakashi wasn't sure if the boy was truly a threat considering his unharmed students, but his skills clearly put him in the S-rank category. Being able to escape and having no problem in capturing him, put him in this category. They were clearly lucky that the boy still had a careless streak.

Having gathered the attention of all those present, he continues, "Physically powerful, very fast, unknown taijutsu, his eyes showed a physical change. If it's a Kekkei Genkai it's unknown, he's also a sensor. He was able to plan on the fly and he was able to knock me out with little effort." he recites bluntly.

Gai opens his mouth to obviously ask a question but is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a masked shinobi.

A startled yell emerges from young Naruto as he points at the suddenly appearing ANBU, "AHHHHH.. it's the masked guys AGAIN!"

Everyone present pauses briefly including the masked figure, all staring at the child, on guard and edging towards his sensei, turning away towards Gai in favor of the more pressing issue, the ANBU continues, "We found the scout team, sir."

"Status" Gai says seriously subconsciously picking up on the importance of the ANBU's coming report.

"Unconscious sir about a mile to the east. Our medic checked them over. There's signs that they were exposed to an airborne toxin. Our medic doesn't have enough chakra to filter it out of all of them. She's doing what she can till we get them back to a hospital."

Kurenai whose been silent this whole time turns towards Gai, "I think gathering evidence of what happened should be put secondary, especially with the level Kakashi thinks this guy is. We need to get him in high-level containment as soon as possible" She points towards the older Naruto.

"I have to agree." Kakashi says turning towards Gai also. Well, he was in command of the current mission.

Bending down, Gai heaves the two still unconscious Genin onto his shoulders. "YES, our comrades well being comes first! TO THE VILLAGE!" He shouts already jumping through branches several trees away.

Groaning slightly Kakashi turns towards the ANBU, "Call your team on the radio and tell them their new orders."

* * *

**Author Note:** Gai is a pain to write... just saying. Everything that sounds even close to 'Gai' makes what little writing standards I have shutter. This chapter wasn't really hard to write at all. To be perfectly honest I was only going to have a quick note about the retrieval squad but it turned into an entire chapter... sorry. The reason for the delay of chapter (if you haven't checked my profile) was because I was taking a break from this story.

I was writing a Harry Potter/Fairy tail cross just for the fun of it. I don't think it's worthy of posting, though I'm tempted to do so anyways because of the almost complete lack of them. It currently has not point or real storyline, I just managed to cross it adequately.


	11. Slippery Suspicions!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**.

* * *

Sarutobi leaned slightly against the wall and took in what was on the other side of the one way mirror as he puffed on his worn ceramic pipe.

The Pseudo Naruto was strapped down on a flat examining table, his arms far away from his body with only a hospital issue pair of shorts on, tubes inserted directly into his veins and countless fuuninjutsu tags littering almost every inch of his body. Dozens of sensors were hooked up to him, all made with overly pliable plastic pads, monitoring his heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure and quite a few things that not even he understood.

When he was first brought in he was stripped of everything, x-ray-ed, his teeth inspected, looked over for seals... essentially everything that the paranoid guards could think of.

Every precaution was being made. Hell, even the needles that had been used to insert the tubes were made of a experimental saline material, meant to dissolve on contact with the bloodstream. It was to prevent him from turning a normal needle into a possible weapon if he by some miracle manages to wake up.

Sighing deeply he turns towards Kakashi, "I want you to gather all the information from your genin of what happened while you were unconscious. You have one hour. Do NOT be late."

Slumping slightly Kakashi looks at the elderly Hokage out of the corner of his uncovered eye. "You're still considering it sir?"

Clamping down on the end of his pipe, a grim expression taking over his face, Sarutobi turns away from the loyal Jonin, "Until all evidence has been looked through it has to stay on the table."

"He spared my team." The copy-nin says simply turning back towards the odd copy of Naruto.

Nodding Sarutobi steps away from the glass towards the exit of the observation room, "If he proves to be a threat we'll make it quick."

* * *

If there was one thing Naruto hated, it was sitting quietly and waiting. Upon arriving to the village they were blindfolded and shushined to a weird waiting room. They were allowed to take off their blindfolds once they were inside but they were told to stay inside the room until ordered otherwise.

Naruto would have normally tried to ditch by now but instead he found watching the other occupants of the room far too amusing to pass up.

"How am I supposed to do this again Izumo?" a ninja with bandages wrapped over the bridge of his nose and spiky midnight black hair says. He was standing in front of a Aquarium carved with seals all over the surface.

Looking into the jar at the little hissing slug, the ninja who was apparently named Izumo shrugs, "How am I supposed to know? Didn't Kakashi tell you how to deal with it?"

Seeing his teammates edge away from the two chuunin Naruto couldn't help a slight sinister giggle slipping out. He wanted nothing more then to cheer the two to touch Slug-sama already.

The spiky haired ninja lifts a brow and shoots a worrying glance in Naruto's general direction. "Something tells me there's a catch to this.. maybe just put the jar in the aquarium too?"

"Nope there's a protocol against it." the brown haired ninja says shaking his head.

"What protocol? It's a slug... not like it can do anything with a loose jar."

Another giggle escapes Naruto as his teammates gives up being subtle and slide all the way down to the other side of the room length bench. The two ninja have been at it for some time now. At first they shook the jar over the top of the aquarium but Slug-sama adhered to the side of the glass like she was glued.

"Kotetsu, You know if he didn't tell you any special rules for handling it maybe that hissing is just that... hissing." Izumo says.

"... ano..." Sakura says quietly lifting her hand slightly trying to get their attention but isn't heard by the other two ninjas as the now named Kotetsu drowns the sound out.

"Izumo if you think it's so harmless you put him in the tank." he says irritably as he shoves the jar into the other chuunin's hands.

Going to do just that, he reaches into the jar towards the hissing slug. Naruto takes a second to smirk at his wide-eyed and highly alert teammates.

The moment however is ruined for the blond and slug, as the door opens and Kakashi walks into the room.

Giving the two chuunin a lazy look, he tisks at the room in general. "Not done yet?". He silently and lazily strides across the room and takes the jar from Izumo. Both chunnin give him a annoyed glare as he plucks the little thing from inside the jar.

Naruto watches as he does the chakra thing he did earlier while he was handling the slug and he carries it over to the aquarium and seals it inside.

Flashing the annoyed ninja an upturned eye, "Hokage-sama wants it outside conference room 3 within the hour."

He turns towards his genin, still eye-smiling to the room in general, "Come with me my little ducklings, we have a report to write."

* * *

Sarutobi walked pass the guards into the conference room as he has done countless times before. As interesting as the mysterious guest was, this was going to determine his fate. Curiosity, no matter how strong, cannot outweigh the village's safety. Not even if it was his own.

Sitting down at the head of the conference table Sarutobi took in the demeanor of the room.

Inspite of what the general public thought a shinobi did not have total control of their emotions. They tended to shield them. It just took an experienced eye to spot the individual's quirks or at least someone whose been around each one of them for extended periods of time.

He was of coarse both.

Ibiki's slight scowl meant he was either annoyed, like most people would assume, or unnerved. Kakashi leaning against the back wall, book open, eyes unmoving meant either deep thought or he was dealing with some sort of heavy emotion. Others within the room showed everything ranging from anticipation and curiosity to boredom. The only ones truly hiding their emotions were his personal guards, the ANBU and they only managed this because of the standard issued masks.

Leaning back in his chair he clears his throat to show the meeting was about to begin. All with in turned towards his direction. Raising an eyebrow in his direction, Kakashi sighs heavily and takes his seat at the table along with the others.

Ready to hear about what progress that has been made Sarutobi turns to a Sparrow masked ANBU but a familiar voice interrupts him.

"I believe my news is the most pressing, Hiruzen." Koharu, one of the elders and his former teammate, says.

Making a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat Sarutobi turns to his old teammate. "We overlooked something?"

"The oversight is understandable." She says briskly. Pulling out a photo she lays it before her former teammate. "I was handed the stone after it was cleaned, I have had some minor experience when it comes to rare stones, and I caught a glimpse of an actual picture of it before I even realized what the stone could be."

Looking down at the picture of the cleaned but broken stone Sarutobi notes the blue instead of violet coloring, broken angles and the silver loop at top. He honestly couldn't place it. It did however nag at him for some reason. "Your findings?"

"When I came to suspect exactly what it was I immediately took it to a specialist. They were able to confirm my suspicions." Her frown deepens and she places another all together familiar picture before her teammate.

Looking down at the picture, Sarutobi is surprised to see the neck of the first Hokage, his former sensei. Knowing what he'll see but looking anyways he takes in the sight of his teachers prized necklace. Same silver loop at top, same color, same clearly cut angles at certain spots. It was clearly the complete unbroken stone. "...Tsunade..." He says after a split second of thought.

"I took the liberty to send out the current 'emergency response" ANBU team to her last known location as soon as I knew what it was." Koharu says in a uncharacteristically soft voice, "They left 10 minutes ago "

The Third Hokage nods in approval and turns towards Ibiki. All signs of playful curiosity was gone. "What did you find on his person?"

"Mostly standard stuff; lock-picks, weapons, chain-mail. I don't know what information you'll get out of most of it. However he had a jacket on that had a clear Uzumaki symbol where most people keep their clan symbol. I'll have a full list with photos on your desk after the blood on the clothes has been analyzed."

Ibiki sighs heavily and looks the elderly Hokage in the eye, "There is one thing of concern however. He has a clear seal on his abdomen. I think a seal master such as yourself needs to look at it not the half trained chuunin under my command. It's complicated beyond anything I've ever seen before."

Sarutobi turns to the ANBU seated to Ibiki's left and nods.

Sparrow clears her throat at the clear signal, "We fully analyzed the blood sample sir and we found quite a few abnormalities."

"Please begin with the normal data."

Shifting threw her papers Sparrow finds what she was looking for. "The subject's blood type is B. Structure of the red blood cells show no deformation indicating no bloodline limit. The white blood cell count was alittle above average but not to the point of an infection."

Flipping over the page she continues, "The first abnormality the lab came across came when we inspected the cells alittle more closely." She passes a magnified photo of a drop of blood towards the Hokage.

Leaning back in his chair Sarutobi takes out his pipe and lighting it with a slight flash of chakra from his finger tip. "What were you looking for specifically?"

"We were inspecting any lingering chakra in the individual cells, Hokage-Sama." Sarutobi grunts slightly.

"The individual cells showed strain and damage far beyond what is normal. The very structure of the cells looked to have taken on quite a bit of strain. Not only that but they were infected with a type of corrosive chakra. Upon further inspection we concluded that the chakra was not in fact human even thought the cells clearly were."

"Is the DNA test complete?" He says as he exhales a lungful of smoke.

Shifting uncomfortably Sparrow hands over a sheet of paper. "Yes sir, we surprisingly found a exact match and at least six others relations were found. They're however all classified beyond my clearance. As a matter of fact they are 'Hokage eyes only", sir"

Looking down at the list of numbers he nods and holds out his hand towards the young ANBU. Knowing what he was asking for, she hands over the sealed files.

With a quick drop of blood the first file opens for the elderly Hokage. A pause... "...Kakashi... Did Naruto come in contact with that stone before you sealed it?"

Perking up slightly the copy-nin pauses for a second, "No, Hokage-sama" he concludes.

"Where did you leave the younger Naruto?" No emotion showed on the elderly man's face but like all Shinobi's he still had them.

"He's in Flood room 3, sir. With the rest of my team." Kakashi one of the rare ones that could tell knew the Hokage was fighting some sort of impulse.

Lifting his hand in a silent signal another nondescript ANBU appears at the Sarutobi's side. "Flood room 3, seal it, make sure it's an odorless and nontoxic gas, they are not to be killed. They're to be place in 'A' ranked cells."

"Yes sir!" The ANBU snaps to attention and disappears as quickly as he appeared.

"Shikaku what do you have to report?"

The lazy Jonin sighs heavily "Ibiki and I haven't found anything in the bingo books to confirm they're frauds. Every bit of information checks out except for the fact they have information that's from the 'future'." The last word was said with a heavy amount of sarcasm. "There are a couple incidents listed that we should be able to confirm happening within the next week that we're sure couldn't be faked at least without outside help. I'd like permission to set up a observation squad so we can catch the bingo book authors in the act."

"Granted." The old ninja says simply. "Anything else?"

Shikaku hums slightly in the back of his throat, "Inoichi's still working on breaking the code in 'Icha Icha Tactics'. He asked me to pass the message along. I'm going to drop in and take a crack at it."

"Does anyone have anything else to report?" Sarutobi asks looking around the room at all those present. Not seeing anyone coming forth with anymore information he turns towards Kakashi and gives him a look.

Sighing heavily Kakashi places his book and hands flat on the table infront of him. A moment later a syringe needle is in the side of his neck, held by one of the ANBU guards. The guard was clearly signaled sometime during the meeting.

Sarutobi gives the copy-nin a faint smile as Ibiki hides a slightly sinister smirk behind his hand. Even with the mask it was clear that Kakashi had a pout on his face. "Just until we're sure, Kakashi."

With a visible tick on his forehead and a mumbled ".. should have come late.." the copy-nin slumps forward into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Author Note:** Before anyone asks it's because Kakashi's story doesn't add up properly and they have to make sure he and his team are not impostors either. I really don't feel like actually writing the whole explanation out in the story, quite frankly I think it's kinda obvious that he became suspect as soon as the DNA on the stone was confirmed but I know someone is going to mention it anyways.

As for me giving Sarutobi skills in Fuuinjutsu... he's called the professor and all three of his students have shown a high level of skill in the subject does anyone honestly believe he's not a master at the art? It always annoys me when other writers have the third call for Jiraiya to look at some seal.

Anyways now I know why everyone goes the easy route when explaining the time-traveling character is from the future... It's a pain in the ass and takes forever to cover all bases otherwise. I kept on forgetting to add things into this... It probably still has some plot holes.. If I ever write another time-travel the time-traveler is going to land in the other time bare ass naked with no proof!

I might rewrite this chapter alittle... It still feels alittle wooden to me. I'm going to give it a couple of days though.


	12. Grueling Bureaucracy

**_Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto._**

* * *

Tsunade lifts her dish of sake and glares across the street at the nearly broken ANBU. This particular team was abnormally persistent. Normally when her teacher wanted to get just in touch the team would have left after the first two or three broken bones. Today however, each one of them were half dead with exhaustion from trying to 'take her in.' What was their commanding officer thinking? Then again what was her Sensei thinking?

She would normally ignore Shizune when she heals those stupid enough to bother her but not today. These idiots deserve the pain.

Watching them through blurry eyes, the group grinds to a halt from a unseen signal. One of their number moves his head in a way that clearly showed that he was giving the 'battlefield' a quick assessment. The white mask lingers for a second longer on a bigger then normal crater alittle up the street.

Lifting his hands before him he quickly runs threw a series of ANBU code that Tsunade in her inebriated state can only just catch.

_Target confirmed... Primary mission complete...Fall back... regroup... reevaluate secondary..._

So they're retreating for awhile?... Good.

Downing her drink Tsunade quickly puts the oddly suicidal ANBU team out of her mind as she turns back to her newly provided bottle.

* * *

Naruto glared at the bowl of gruel in annoyance. Why couldn't they give prisoners something alittle more like Raman? Yeah, prisoners didn't deserve the awesome-ness that was Ramon but he wasn't a real prisoner! Didn't he keep saying so? It wasn't even the real type of gruel. Nooo, it was the make you sleepy type that he was trained to not eat. Pfff... like he'd actually NOT eat.

He's been in this cell for two days (at least according to 'no sleepy' time) and he was tired of it.

They took his real clothes, they found all his cool ninja stuff (there wasn't even any locks to pick! Why take the lock picks?) and now they were handing him this... mockery of food.

Being by himself wasn't that much of a big deal to him. He was used to it even if he liked having people talking to him now.

He just hoped that they let him out soon.

* * *

Sparrow checks over the information again. This was the third time she was forced to run the test on the second set of samples. She glared down at the test results.

The captain made it quite clear that the Hokage wanted them to run the blood samples through every test available until a clear difference was found.

Disregarding the level of sedatives and chemicals associated with the age differences there simply wasn't a difference between the two. She even went to the hassle of going through the security checks to draw new samples from the sources to check if there was cross contamination of some sort from the first vials.

Nothing..

Resigned, Sparrow gathers the tray of clearly labeled vials and the dozens of blood tests she performed. She quietly places the papers into a folder and quickly starts filling out the failed mission report.

At least she didn't have to do the confirmation tests on the others.

"_ANBU 2398728 report on mission 22018-432..."_

* * *

Sakura didn't even bother eating the gruel. At least for the reasons a normal ninja would. Ino said something to her once about the food given to the people in detention. The food was designed to give the basic nutrients for basic civilian muscle mass. Everything else however was designed to interfere with a ninja abilities. A special batch of tasteless herbs made it difficult to mold chakra and to maintain it. It would take weeks to process the material out without a medic nin. Worst of all there were componites in the food that turned the majority of a person's muscles into fat if given enough time (only four weeks!).

Yeah, she needed something to eat but she wasn't going to take more then a couple of spoonfuls of that swill. There was no way she was going to let herself get fat.

* * *

Shikaku glares at the clearing through the binoculars as he watches the entire scene turn out as was reported in the 'future' bingo book.

They placed cameras in the area a couple days before hand. Shikaku ordered where to place them, himself. They had four of the village's best sensors watch the area around the valley. No one warned the Kiri or Suna Ninja that were reported to be involved in bingo entry.

Nothing out of the ordinary. The one Suna nin performed up to the standard his bingo book profile reported.

Up to this point he was just one of a crowd, the bingo book entry sited this incident as the reason for a bounty being placed on his head.

There was no evidence that this was a set up... as a matter of fact it would be almost impossible to set this up... just like the other two entries they investigated...

* * *

Sasuke watched the guard leave the day's first bowl with a glare. He knew they were doing tests to make sure him and his team were who they were supposed to be, it was rather obvious given the small needle marks and the fact they were unconscious near a enemy during the mission, but that didn't mean he was just going to lay back and do nothing if they found something 'wrong' with them.

Somewhere deep down he was ashamed by his own lack of faith in the village. However every time it piped up another voice subconsciously quieted it with the thought of his once overwhelming faith in his brother all those years ago. The time before his family was murdered. If he couldn't trust his own brother, could he honestly trust anyone? Even the village?

Mentally he shook himself out of his thoughts and took note of the passage of time with his internal clock. Four hours between the three daily meals. Night and day patrols, consistent ten minutes between checks. Definitely high level containment...

* * *

Katusu looked around her 'cage' and considered her options. The aquarium she found herself imprisoned in was of standard Shinobi make. Basically meaning that the top had a current of electricity running threw it to prevent summons like herself from attaching themselves to it. The sides had a thin steal mesh inside the glass itself, and the glass was resistant to almost every form of acid and force known to shinobi kind.

On the up side it was a step up from Naruto's sweaty Jacket collar. Someone really needed to teach the boy the wonders of Laundry detergent.

Also on the up side it was a standard made aquarium for it's size. Standard made aquariums were made to hold small summons. In spite of her current size the acid she spit was that of the larger summon variety. Her spit was the type that could melt entire villages to the ground. Alittle glass and steal wouldn't stop her if she truly wanted to escape.

Still contemplating doing just that a pair of young gloved hands seize the glass prison and slips a small gas pellet inside. The sudden-ness of the movements catches the summon off guard long enough that it's too late to prevent the gas from getting into her system.

As she starts to fall asleep she just barely register's the green stripped mask of the 'root' ANBU.

* * *

Kakashi sunk into the generic foam pillow and flipped through the pages of his little orange book with obvious relish. Vacation time was always nice.

Yes, the hidden senbon and lock-picks were missing from his book but someone (he suspected under the third orders) left him his beloved.

He decided that he wouldn't take the person responsible for searching the book to task... at least not too hard. Not finding a seal in the book was still a very serious mistake after all but considering they would have had to remove a page from his book or not give it to him at all, he'll be nice about it.

A training mission with Gai ought to do it.

A clicking noise near the door draws his attention away from his book. A hand quickly and efficiently clears the still full bowl of gruel and replaces it quickly with a new warmed bowl.

Ignoring it much like the last bowl Kakashi turns to the next page of his book.

Hope the kids are behaving... still once they release us the reports on how they did in detention should be entertaining.

* * *

Reading over the dozen or so reports connected to the whole situation, Sarutobi lights his pipe and signals a nearby ANBU.

Puffing on his pipe in contemplation the elderly Hokage doesn't bother to acknowledge the kneeling masked shinobi as he continues to think for a moment longer.

Finally he turns and looks at the masked face, "Get Kakashi..now."

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_ I hate Transition chapters... that and Knights of the old republic is a evil evil addictive game. (I have 8 level 17+ characters now; I got all the ships!) It took me hostage and I just managed to get away... Sorry about the wait. Don't even get me going on the huge chunk of storyline I had to delete from this. It's the whole reason this chapter is one of the shortest and it took the longest. I just didn't want to erase that chunk of writing...


	13. Wakey Wakey

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

* * *

The students were acting appropriately for once. They were lined up from shortest to tallest, silent and almost grim as they walked along the hidden path towards the Monument.

Fifteen minutes ago the Jonin-Sensei encharge of the academy informed all classes that an evacuation drill was to be preformed.

This wasn't all that abnormal, but there was an abnormal tick in the man's voice that told him otherwise. Not being as well trained at hiding his emotions as the man (even though he could pick the small differences from his voice) the children quickly picked up on his sudden change.

Not a single one of them was smiling or goofing off not even Kono...

A small shift of air moves behind him interrupting his thoughts, his hand instinctively reaches up and vise-like snaps around a wrist holding a blade against his throat. It was just an inch away.

"My my look at that" comes an amused voice behind the teacher, It was instantly recognizable, "Your teacher has valiantly fallen in battle defending his little brats!" Sighing deeply in mock disappointment she turns towards the students, "And not a single one even came to defend him... such a shame." She ends with a slight sinister sneer.

"Anko-san..." Iruka couldn't quite keep the note of annoyance out of his voice. The 'lady' would sometimes goof off like this. She obviously derived some perverse enjoyment out of shocking people.

A number of the students were cracking small but still uneasy smiles at the sight of their teacher in such a situation.

"Did you need something Anko-san?" Iruka releases the 'Lady's' wrist and tries his professional best to keep the irritation he was feeling out of his voice. Considering the amused tilt of her brow he was certain that his attempt failed.

"The Hokage wants you at building 162 in ten." It was code for the interrogation building. The code was used in front of unauthorized personnel, in this case his students.

Nodding his head and handing over his clipboard to the jonin and turns towards his students. He didn't need to bother telling her who was who. The list was organized by height of the children for just this situation.

Iruka gives his students as natural a smile he could muster, "Who remembers what happens if an evacuation leader falls?" He needed to make sure that they believed this was still a drill.

"We follow the next in command!" an over eager student says not even bothering to raise her hand.

Iruka rubs his forehead and turns towards the child, "Not a bad guess but there isn't a next in command. Every one of you are still civilians." he points towards Anko. "If you are put in this situation you are to continue to the evacuation point as safely as you can manage and if you come across a unengaged shinobi you are to ask for their assistance." he says looking pointedly at Anko even as she grinned sinisterly at the lot of them from behind Iruka.

Iruka turns back to the now bored looking Anko, "They're all yours Anko-san." he says leaping onto a nearby building.

Looking down along the list Anko absentmindedly twirls the earlier kunai on her index finger, "Well are you brats going to ask me for assistance? This is supposed to be a drill you know."

No one says anything for a second except a brat in the back who turns towards his friend and stage whispers, "Isn't she supposed to be playing an enemy ninja? She just 'killed' sensei!"

* * *

"Where have you been?" The Hokage barks at the copy-nin and his ANBU escort. The animal masked shinobi twitches but pointedly turns his mask towards the copy-nin.

"Never mind, back to your post." Sarutobi orders looking directly towards the masked ANBU.

Ignoring the ANBU disappearing into the woodwork and the others standing around the desk, Kakashi gives the older Shinobi his undivided attention.

Sarutobi passes a manila folder across the desk to Kakashi. As far as looks went it looked just like any other nondescript manila folder except for the small and almost indiscernible spider like markings weaving across it's surface. The security fuin-jutsu was highly elaborate.

A short burst of coded taps come from behind the closed office door. Listening carefully Sarutobi turns towards a unseen guard nods and another burst of patterned taps comes from the guard's hiding place. The door opens revealing a nondescript ANBU holding it open for the village's resident Jonin commander.

Shikaku steps over the threshold as the guard closes the door behind him, he waits a moment as he feels the slight burst of chakra placed in another seal somewhere on the door and approaches the desk.

Catching his eye, Sarutobi pointedly looks down at a pile of manila folders as he turns back towards the window calmly watching the various shinobi and civilians going about their day. He was clearly waiting for them to read the files.

Drawing a file from the bottom of the pile Shikaku begins to read the contents.

For the next few minutes the copy-nin and the shadow user dispense their disbelief and note all the clues and miscellaneous information in the files. Finishing before the Copy-nin in spite of starting a few minutes after him Shikaku picks up the diagram and picture of the seal once more from one of the files and carefully goes over it inch by inch comparing the two.

Unlike the others this file was done by the Hokage himself and done within the last half hour if the barely dry ink was any indication.

Setting down the last file Kakashi reaches into the pile and pulls what Shikaku noted as the DNA file and casually starts to flip through it. "So Naruto managed to do the impossible, humm?"

Still facing the window Sarutobi inclines his head and pulls out his pipe. Though the window's reflection Shikaku could tell he was deeply in thought. "Far more then you know..." he says reluctantly.

Slightly confused Shikaku runs through all the information he read but comes up with nothing more impossible then time-travel. "Sir?"

Smiling alittle ironically the Third turns back towards the two jonin and slowly releases a lungful of smoke. "Time-travel is not unheard of. It is possible with Fuin-jutsu. The impossible part is the fact he's very much anchored in the here and now."

Looking back down at the diagram and picture of the seal Shikaku uses his limited knowledge of the subject to narrow down where something like an anchor would be and quickly spots a small difference between the two.

Giving into a ingrained teaching impulse, Sarutobi points towards the spot and explains, "This anchor should be over here." He points to another spot of the diagram. "It still full fills it's original purpose however it now also permanently anchors him to this time line. In order to reverse the effect of a seal being used for this, it must be destroyed."

Silence descends over the rooms occupants at this news.

"It can't be reversed because it's a seal that was reinforced by the Shinigami?" Kakashi asks thoughtfully.

The third nods, "It's one of the rare seals that is not temporary. It can be broken but it's pieces will never cess to exist. The older Naruto is trapped here so long as it exists. If we ever found a way to destroy the seal it would kill him anyways."

A pained groan comes from Kakashi as he closes the DNA file he was re-reading. "...two.. Narutos..." he says to himself weakly.

Snorting slightly Shikaku shakes his head at his fellow Jonin, "...And two Kyuubi..." he retorts, clearly showing that he didn't know how much a problem Naruto was on his own.

Sarutobi settles down in his chair and pinches the bridge of his nose, a resigned look in his eyes, "...Whom probably has a wealth of future information that almost any of the villages would risk starting another world war for..."

Shikaku makes a slight confused sound at the Hokage's statement. Reliable Intel was the life blood of a hidden village and this wasn't just reliable Intel but absolute Intel. All they had to do was cover up the fact that they had the information. Kakashi realizing what he was thinking, turns and explains, "He's not exactly the best student when it comes to stealth. He doesn't have a personality of someone who will stay in the background either. Put him undercover, and it won't be a question of 'if' he breaks cover but 'when'." he states matter of factly.

"I see... in other words his Intel will only be reliable so long." Shikaku says.

Putting down the DNA file that was hanging limply in his hand Kakashi meets the gaze of the Hokage a serious look in his eye. "We should wake him up as soon as possible and find a way to connivance him he's in this time."

Looking slightly alarmed Shikaku head whips up and looks between the Hokage and Kakashi. "Alot can happen in three years, are you sure he's even loyal to the village anymore?"

Smiling fondly Sarutobi stops puffing on his pipe briefly and turns to Shikaku, "I'm more sure of Naruto's loyalty to this village then I am of my own."

* * *

Naruto awoke with a bad taste in his mouth. His tongue was covered in a nasty slimy grit and he felt a slight trail of sticky drool down the side of his face and on too his neck. His head was tilted upwards, resting on what felt like the back of a chair and his mouth was wide open.

Because of the oddity of his waking position and the countless times he was drilled when being awaken by Ero-Sannin his training kicked-in just in time to keep himself from giving anyone watching a indication that he was awake.

Following protocol, he flexes his wrists feeling for what restraints there might be. Meeting something holding his arms in place, his fingers reach out; Smooth, not fixed to his wrists, cold, ridged, bolted to something other then each other.

Concentrating he goes to move his chakra flow a bit to feel out his environment without opening his eyes...

"Good try kid, but that's not going to work."

Opening his eyes and swinging his head around towards the voice Naruto finds himself looking into the heavily scarred and slight grim smiling face of Ibiki.

Narrowing his eyes to slits Naruto doesn't bother being quiet about it and tries to move his chakra again. Nothing..

Chuckling deeply at the look of defiance he was getting Ibiki sweeps his hands at Naruto. Not knowing what he was pointing at Naruto looks down at himself and sees quite clearly 'what'. Almost every inch of him (except for areas where the restraints were and his face) were small bits of paper, every one of which were marked with thousands of little lines of symbols that Naruto vaguely recognized as seals. They were obviously on him for some time in order for him not to notice.

Dismissing the sudden cold feeling in his chest, Naruto snarls viciously at Ibiki. Could he be in another genjutsu? The village wouldn't hold him prisoner like this. Were they Akasuki? Growling much like his tenate Naruto bares his teeth, "I'm not telling you Akasuki bastards ANYTHING. I don't care what you want him for I'M NOT LETTING YOU TAKE KYUUBI!"

Quirking an eyebrow at the kid, Ibiki picks up a nearby clipboard and pen and writes a quick note. Looking up he's just in time to see a slight pained expression on the kid's face, right before he turns his head away, nose held high up in the air and as his mouth twists into a childish pouting frown. Even an untrained civilian could interpret the young blonde's expressions.

Ibiki chuckles a bit to himself before turning from his clipboard back to the teen, "If you are who we think you are, telling us what we want to know isn't going to harm anyone you're protecting kid."

Aggravated, Naruto snarls again baring his teeth, his eyes flashing red. If he couldn't use his own chakra then he had no choice..

A light clicks on and the dark shadows of the room withdrawal to the very edges of the cell. A whisper of a door moving on it henge quietly echo through the room. "I believe that will be enough Ibiki," Sarutobi says to the interrogator.

At the sight of the Old man, an ice cold jolt runs down the teens spine, red chakra completely disappearing, suddenly being confronted with someone whose been dead for years brought him up short.

Shaking his head to ward off the feeling Naruto narrows his eyes at the robed figure. They were trying to get to him, trying to hurt him in anyway possible. Taking multiple deep breaths he tries to reason with himself. This couldn't be the Third in front of him. The Old man died over three years ago. This is a genjutsu. They took the grandfatherly memory of him, the smell of old pipe smoke and added it too the illusion. It just couldn't be him.

Seeing that Naruto was barely keeping himself together, Sarutobi turns to him and gives him a understanding half smile clearly realizing why seeing him was painful, "...Naruto.."

Naruto, not trusting himself, closes his eyes, turns his head away and croaks out firmly, "You're not him. I'm not telling you anything!"

Knowing how hard this must be for the boy, Sarutobi smiles at the stubborn figure with no small hint of pride, "You don't have to say anything for the moment. I just want you to listen Naruto."

Confirming that the teen was listening by spotting a slight tremble in his stiff lower lip the Hokage continues, "Kakashi and his team found you on a incomplete bridge in Wave. He thought you were a impostor. He quickly secured you for transport and tried to bring you back for questioning. You awoke and spent some time with team 7 as you're well aware. Reinforcements managed to knock you out and bring you back to the village."

Naruto finally turns towards the Hokage only to give him a glare, clearly not believing his situation.

Sarutobi sighs deeply scratching his beard absentmindedly, "We had a small problem with the fact that you were at least 3 years older then you were supposed to be. Kakashi had no choice but to treat you as a threat, same as you have no choice in threatening us as a threat. We did every test possible and they confirmed that the both of you, younger and older, are in fact the same person Naruto. Kakashi is of the opinion that you were in a battle before you woke in the forest?"

Naruto narrows his eyes, his gaze was full of distrust. The elderly shinobi could tell that the younger man was analyzing his situation, trying to find a weakness in the overwhelming security... trying to find any way out.

Realizing he wasn't making any progress the Third changes direction and points his faintly smoking pipe at the teen's stomach. "Something happened to your seal Naruto..." He says blandly. "As a matter of fact I can tell it's been open. One of the fail safes are gone." he prompts.

Sarutobi lifts his pipe to his mouth to take a lungful of the tainted smoke as he watches Naruto's reaction. Hopefully something would trigger a memory that he would trust... Getting him to trust them otherwise could take ages. Hopefully it would work.

It took a full ten seconds for the words to register before the boy's eyes widen suddenly in shock.

His head tilts downwards eyes moving right to left not really seeing what is in front of him, his mind clearly in thought. After a moment he looks the Hokage in the eyes a glimmer of hope and fear just visible.

"The village was leveled... he attacked Hinata... I tore off the seal." He stops a moment his breath going in and out raggedly on the verge of panicking. "I forgot... I was in the seal in front of Kyuubi's cage... Tou.. I mean the Forth Hokage was there.."

"... and..."

Naruto lets out a half hysterical bark, "... The failsafe failed... he couldn't close it." He giggles uncontrollably for a moment but explains when he catches Sarutobi's look, "He had me do a transportation Jutsu... It was my only hope. He didn't know what would happen."

Looking up once again into the elderly man's eye, tears leaking down his whiskered cheeks Naruto asks desperately, hope shining through, "Is it really you old man?" his bottom lip quivers waiting for the answer.

The aged Hokage tips his hat covered head forward slightly into a nod, "Yes."

* * *

Author's Note: Do I have an excuse? Well yes I wrote this chapter **_5 different times from scratch_**! I'm still annoyed and completely unsatisfied with it. As a matter of fact I hate how it turned out and I just wanted the damn thing over with. This is as good as it's going to get.


	14. Seals, Tears and Snot

_**Disclaimer: I do not own**_** Naruto**

* * *

Naruto didn't really know how it happened. One moment he was cuffed to the chair the next he found his head on the elderly shinobi's shoulder. His arms were wrapped around him with near rib cracking force.

How he managed to get there at that moment didn't matter to Naruto. So little mattered at that moment. The sticky seals pulling at all the invisible hairs on his arms didn't matter. Him being in nothing but a pair of shorts didn't matter. The scrambling of the ANBU didn't matter. The kunai suddenly poised at his throat didn't matter either.

All that suddenly mattered was the steady heartbeat he could feel under his arms and the healthy warmth coming from the old man.

"Stand Down!" Naruto barely registered the barking command coming from over his head. As he cried uncontrollably, two streams of wet flowing down his cheeks soaking into the robe of the Third Hokage. He felt the kunai reluctantly withdrawn from his jugular.

They stood there for several minutes Naruto holding on venting all the pain he felt at Sarutobi's loss. He never did cry when he died before. Some part of him never accepted it. The old shinobi pats Naruto's blond hair as if he was a very small child in need of comforting.

As the minutes go by the Naruto's racking sobs slowly subside. Seeing no end to the bear-hug Sarutobi clears his throat and nudges the solid shoulder of the teenager.

Getting the hint Naruto backs away slightly and looks up at the Hokage with red puffy eyes his lower lip still quivering, snot running slightly out of his equally puffy nose.

Ignoring the broken restraints still attached to Naruto, Sarutobi couldn't help but be heavily reminded of a much younger blond. Sarutobi knowing what to do he gives him the same reassuring smile he used to give him on the rare occasion he came to him during his younger years.

The older Naruto freezes, his face scrunches up at the look and for a moment Sarutobi is almost sure that he was going to burst into tears again, instead his expression clears and it was like the sunlight suddenly chose to flood the small interrogation room as an ear to ear grin cuts it's way across the blonde's face. It was honestly the happiest the older man has ever seen Naruto.

"Naruto we have..." Sarutobi starts just as a series of knocks sound out from the door. Turning away from Naruto for the first time since entering the room he turns to the ANBU stationed near the door and nods. The woman behind the mask nicks her palm and smears the blood onto a suddenly glowing blue seal, opening the door.

A man walks in and forward into the light. He approaches Sarutobi and stands at attention.

Even in attention Iruka was doing a fairly good job of not staring at the older 'Naruto'. Even some of his most disciplined shinobi would at least let their eyes stray to the young man considering. He supposes the young school teacher had enough staring during the retrieval mission.

"Excellent Iruka, you made good time. Let me 're'introduce you to Naruto Uzumaki your new charge."

"WHAT!"

Sarutobi resists an instinctual wince as Naruto shout echoes around the enclosed room.

"Old man, I don't need a keeper!" The expression on Naruto's face made it clear that the very thought was highly offensive.

Sighing heavily, knowing he was facing a possible uphill battle, "Naruto I have not seen your skills and we need to error on the side of caution for now."

Before Naruto could argue the point a throat clears interrupting another outburst. "Na.. Naruto Hokage- sama?! But I thought the younger was..."

The Third turns to the young school teacher and lifts a hand to stop the barely discernible babble coming from him. "The younger Naruto is Naruto also. The older Naruto seems to have done something unexpected. He is now in his past." a pause "Permanently."

* * *

Half an hour later in the Hokage's office the three stood quietly each going through their own thoughts about the odd situation.

The aged shinobi was surprised how easy it was to convince Naruto to hold off on his questions and put up a henge to travel to the room.

The blinds were drawn and the ANBU guards were dismissed.

Naruto was giving him a careful measuring look so mature he could scarcely believe this was the same young man who would prank and laugh in the most serious of situations.

Naruto suddenly nods to himself clearly coming to a decision.

"Old Man, I can't stay here. I need to get back. The village is in danger." the quiet tone practically screamed to the other two occupants that the younger man would accept no arguments on the matter. It was a tone that Sarutobi associated with the few people he knew who could walk onto a battlefield and completely turn the tide. They were the people you would avoid fighting if you could.

"Naruto it isn't a question of if I allow you to go back. It's a question of what's possible." Sarutobi says grimly.

"I can't accept that! They'll die if I'm not there! You have to send me back, Old Man!" Naruto shouts holding Sarutobi's gaze an agonized desperation in his eyes.

Not flinching or looking away from the near frightening gaze, Sarutobi takes a deep drag of his pipe and slowly releases the smoke from his lungs. "I stand by what I said Naruto." he says quietly.

Naruto's eyes narrow into a furious glare opening his mouth to further shout.

"Time travel isn't completely unknown Naruto." Sarutobi interrupts. "In order to send you back the seal involved would have to be destroyed."

"Then destroyed it." Naruto glares.

"It's the seal holding the Kyuubi." a pause, silence reigned throughout the four corners of the office.

"Would I survive long enough after it's gone to help them?" Naruto asks quietly after about five minutes of silence.

"No" The older man shakes his head and elaborates "If you're lucky you might survive a minute or two but then Kyuubi would be loose. Not to mention that specific seal can't be truly destroyed." Sarutobi vaguely points to a book on the corner of his desk. "My research tells me that after a significant amount of time the timeline will be incapable of being healed. The old one will simply be over written."

Naruto's brow was furrows in confusion but pain was clear in his every movement. "What does that mean for them?"

Sarutobi smiles slightly in reassurance "They are alive now they just won't remember what happened and you will. It's as simple as that."

"Wait a minute!" Iruka speaks up, "What about the two Naruto's will one of them disappear?"

"Disappear?! It's possible for me to disappear?" A look of complete stupefaction flashes across Naruto's face. "I DON'T WANT TO DISAPPEAR!" Naruto shouts in complete childlike horror, hands in his hair panic in every movement.

Ignoring his lamenting Sarutobi palms his pipe and calmly draws it away from his mouth. "You are not going to disappear."

Naruto lets go of his hair slowly considering and looks towards the older ninja, confusion still on his face.

"Younger me?" worry still in his voice.

"He's safe. Medically you two will be considered identical twins. You're just a couple of years older."

"A brother.." Naruto says softly a sudden hopeful look flashes across his whiskered face.

Sarutobi smiles and nods knowing words were not needed.

A full-blown grin quickly grows across Naruto's face nearly cracking his jaw with how wide it was.

They stand there for a few minutes Sarutobi smoking his pipe and Naruto grinning at the world.

Believing enough time passed Iruka clears his throat gaining the attention of the two. "You mentioned that he's my charge Hokage-sama?"

"Yeah about that old man, I don't need a keeper! I'll just stay with younger me. I know I won't mind."

Sighing heavily once again Sarutobi pinches the bridge of his nose, "It isn't about living arrangements Naruto. You're not looking at the whole picture."

"He needs to be hidden.." Iruka says thinking, positive he was right.

"Precisely" the Hokage confirms, nods and turns back to the blond, "I've chosen Iruka because he knows you best in this time. You'll need someone to help you remain hidden on a day to day basis. There is no telling how the other nations will react to you being here with knowledge of the future. Relations with Suna for example are becoming particularly strained as of late."

"Gaara wouldn't..." Naruto stops his sudden outburst, a look of shock filtering across his face as realization comes to him. This wasn't his time. The Third was still alive, so Gaara wasn't the Kazekage yet. Gaara hasn't been saved from himself yet. He was still drowning in the painful loneliness that he himself was once trapped in.

"The Chuunin exam invasion.." he says quietly, his brow furrowed once again voice solemn.

Sarutobi gaze sharpens, "I see. It seems we haven't uncovered that information from your Bingo books as of yet."

Naruto's brow furrows in confusion once again, "Why haven't.."

"From what I understand from the reports the case investigators are working their way from the very beginning of the older Bingo book confirming what information they can." Sarutobi points to three stacks of manila folders that began at the floor next to the desk and ended about the height of the third's seated head.

"As you can imagine the T&I department is being very thorough. From what I understand they just came across information on what happened to the Third Kazekage. That was quiet some time ago. He gives the young shinobi a piercing look. "I believe I'll have them switch directions and begin on the modern entries, shall I? In the mean time however I believe you need to give me a full accounting of that last few years Naruto.

Naruto sighs deeply wondering where exactly to start.

* * *

Author's note: Okay I'm at the point where I have no plan for the story... should be interesting... Might take me a bit to figure something out though.


End file.
